Re: your opinions (right or wrong)
From:
Allan Lightman (University of Dayton)
Date:
Thursday, July 6, 1995
From: Allan Lightman (University of Dayton)
To: RP-ML
Date: Thursday, July 6, 1995
Subject: Re: your opinions (right or wrong)
When the companies were first founded the names (NCR, 3M, etc.) referred to
their product lines, much as RP stood for rapid prototyping - at least in
the hopes of those developing the machines. As product lines evolved, many
companies disociated themselves from the limitations implied by their full
names and went to the acronyms only. This "liberated" them from the baggage
of the implications of their name. NCR became a computer company, 3M does
not focus on mining the minerals needed for sandpaper, etc. In the same
sense, RP machines could be used to refer to those additive material
fabricators which enhance rapid product realization. I think that RP might
be left to stand on its own in a world in which many of the users are
complaining that the technology is neither fast enough nor capable of
directly producing true prototypes.
Allan Lightman
University of Dayton Research Institute
lightman@udri.udayton.edu
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