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he integrated manufacturing method is likely to grow.. Case study 2: MannequinTen plastic mannequins were required by a client in three months from the receipt of the plaster model of the emulational body. This ponent was an ideal candidate for using integrated system to development, with a very plex surface and a requirement for only 10 parts. In order to produce the plastic mannequin, the various technologies including reverse engineering, 3D CAD, rapid prototyping and rapid tooling were used to plete model measuring, surfaces reconstructing, 3D CAD modelling, prototype and mould building. The whole development work was presented below. The first step of the project was to construct a CAD model of the emulational body by RE process. ATOS measuring equipment made in GOM Inc. which has a high scanning (10,000 points/sec) and can measure models in a wide range from 500mm to 10mm, was employed to capture the digitized data of the plaster mold. Figure 3(a) shows the point clouds of the body model. The subsequent process was to perform surfaces reconstructing. To speed this process, a special reverse engineering program, called CopyCAD (Delcam Inc.), was used to create quickly and easily the CAD surfaces from the digitized data. After surfacesreconstructing, many errors in the original model and the joints must be modified by PowerShape software package (another software of Delcam Inc.). The surfaces model of the body is represented in Fig. 3(b). To fabricate easily, the surface model was divided into 11 individual ponents which included the head, body, upper arms, forearms, tights, shanks and feet using Pro/Engineer software package. Subsequently, every surface model was converted to a solid model, and many holes and slots needed to be designed for fixing joints such as shoulder, knees, etc. Then, the solid parts and joints were assembled to form the solid model of the emulational body. Figure 3(c) illustrates the pleted CAD solid model. The RP prototypes of these ponents were built on a LPS 600 machine. The assembly RP body model is shown in Fig. 3(d). In addition, silicon rubber moulds of these ponents were fabricated for producing the green parts. Finally, the required 10 plastic mannequins were produced successfully and the project was pleted in about 12 weeks. Figures 3(e) and (f) describe respectively the silicon rubber mould of half head and the green product. The case indicates the rapid development of large product and plex surfaces can be realized quickly following the integrated development mode.4. ConclusionIn this paper, we have presented an integrated system based on RP for rapid product developing. The system consists of four modules: digital prototype, virtual prototype, physical prototype and rapid tooling. It employs fully and integrates closely the various advanced manufacturing technologies which involve the 3D CAD, RE, CAE, RP, and RT. In this system, the procedure of development from design to end product is worked step by step: design, analysis, rapid prototype and tooling. By evaluating the whole process and its various ponents, and paring them with traditional process, it has been clear that one can reap benefits in various ways. The system can effectively press the design and manufacturing cycle time and reduce the development cost, which is an important factor in petition. Using this integrated system to develop new product shows a high potential for faster response to market and customers’ demands. As a result, it will play a more and more important role to reduce the manufacturing cycle and cost of product development in the future.AcknowledgementsThis research was supported by The National High Technology Research and Development Program (863 Program) under the project “The integrated manufacturing technology and equipments of rapid tooling for rapid product development” (), and “Tenth FiveYear” National Key Technologies Ramp