Knowledge-based system for choice of rapid prototyping process

This paper introduces a knowledge-based system for the choice of rapid product development processes. Rapid product development processes are not limited to layer-manufacturing machines, but they also integrate CAD reverse engineering, indirect methods for metallic and plastic part manufacturing, etc... Due to short delays, people have no time to test and compare different solutions of rapid product development processes. Even if people have time, tests are time and money consuming. It is also very difficult for somebody to know all about industrial technologies, and to be able to evaluate a multi-criteria choice in a short time. The aim ofthe proposed knowledge-based system is to generate, from the specification of parts or tools, different alternatives of rapid product development processes, which can be discriminated and optimized when considering a combination of the different specification criteria (cost, quality, delay, etc...).Mechanical Engineerin