Editorial

Citation

Campbell, I. (2007), "Editorial", Rapid Prototyping Journal, Vol. 13 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/rpj.2007.15613eaa.001

Editorial

In May, I had the privilege of attending the excellent RAPID Conference and Exhibition in Detroit, organised by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME). Once again this was a very well attended event with numerous conference steams and a large exhibition of rapid prototyping, rapid manufacturing and other related technologies. Highlights of the event for myself were the prevalence of rapid manufacturing presentations within the conference, the opportunity to share with designers in a pre-conference Design for Rapid Manufacturing workshop and hearing the views of various experts about where this industry is heading. It was also good to meet up in person with other members of the SME Tech Group for Direct Digital Manufacturing, having had numerous telephone conferences with them.

Whilst attending RAPID, I was able to speak with David McInnis and Alex Linde from Tangible Express. This is a Utah-based company who, in February 2007, launched the concept of “fractional ownership” of rapid prototyping technology. Their idea was conceived through looking at the business jet industry where shared ownership of aircraft is commonplace. This is a novel business model that enables RP users to gain access to expensive equipment that would otherwise be beyond their means. As far as Tangible Express are aware there are no competitors in this market. David and Alex reckon that for fractional ownership to work well, it is necessary to have numerous RP machines available and the company has invested in thirteen machines, both SLA and SLS. For users to take advantage of fractional ownership, they need to decide how much capacity they require and then purchase an appropriate fraction of a specific machine, e.g. 1/16th. They will also be charged a running cost for using the machine. It works a bit like virtual hosting. Tangible Express have seen a good response to their initiative which they say gives advantages in terms of cost, guaranteed capacity, economies of scale and the ability to “trade off” different platforms with other owners. They also offer one day shipping to anywhere in the US. They are aiming for a US customer base of Fortune companies and are considering a European base also. This could be a viable alternative to “the use a bureau/buy a machine” dilemma that many RP users currently have and it will be very interesting to see how Tangible Express develops into the future.

Finally, I have great pleasure in informing Rapid Prototyping Journal readers that the 2006 Thomson Scientific Impact Factor for the journal has risen to 0.914 (up from 0.814 for the previous year). This is great news for readers, authors and the editorial team as it demonstrates that our commitment to continually increasing the quality of the journal is paying off. I would like to thank everyone who has contributed to this success.

Ian Campbell