| state of the technology, some of its unique applications, and the likely direction of its future development. |
| The RP&M industry has shown various signs of maturation. There has already been industry consolidation. Several firms have developed essentially stable market positions, one system supplier has failed, and several others are losing ground. Rapid prototyping services are available from over 350 service bureaus worldwide. The competition for business among these firms has driven prices downward, and reduced profit margins. Somewhat ironically, the low prices of RP&M parts that have adversely impacted some service bureaus have caused other organizations to use service bureaus rather than purchasing, installing, and operating their own RP&M equipment internally. This, in turn, has adversely affected the sale of equipment from the RP&M system manufacturers. As a consequence, revenue growth has slowed, or even reversed, and losses have often replaced profits in the quarterly reports of these firms. |
| Notwithstanding all these difficulties, the picture is hardly as bleak as one might initially surmise. At its core, RP&M is really about catching errors early in the design process, designing better products, reducing product cost, and getting products to market faster. All four of these benefits are surely coveted by nearly all industries. We believe that the first order of business for the RP&M industry is educationwhich is one of the primary reasons for writing this book. As more companies learn about the time and cost savings that are possible with RP&M, business opportunities for our industry will expand. Although awareness of RP&M is certainly much greater than it was a decade ago, the percentage of those companies that manufacture a physical product while utilizing RP&M remains pitifully small. To get a sense of this, the next time you attend a dinner party or a baseball game and the person next to you is an engineer, scientist, or business manager, ask that person if they have ever heard of RP&M. |
| The old saw "nothing succeeds like success" is truly relevant. Those organizations that have experienced significant time or cost savings, or improved product quality through RP&M, become "true believers." These firms continue to use the process over and over again. What does it take to convince someone who has not achieved these benefits that they are real? How does one show someone that these benefits can be applied to his or her specific application? Is the lack of adoption related to fear of failure? Are these people afraid that if they recommend the use of RP&M during the kickoff meeting for their next product development, others will look at them as if they were from Mars? Perhaps if they read the story of "Project Widget" in Chapter 3 they will realize what they might be missing if they do not utilize RP&M. |
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![Stefan Baumgartner [Stefan Baumgartner] - Front-End Tooling with Gulp, Bower, and Yeoman](/uploads/posts/book/120519/thumbs/stefan-baumgartner-stefan-baumgartner-front-end.jpg)
