Technology & Manufacturing Development

This activity uses the funding resulting from the Business Case to develop a prototype product ready for rigorous full scale field-testing and evaluation in cooperation with the customer. Formal bench- or laboratory-scale testing and limited field experiments with the customers are expected to point to and define the characteristics of the field prototype.

• What operations are required for the company/innovator to make products?
• What is the logical order that those operations should be carried out?
• What equipment is required to complete the operations?
• What quality control measures should be used?
• Is there need for formal customer feedback on the prototype to determine if market goals will be achieved?
• Do production plans show that product throughput can meet market demands at required cost and quality?

• Intimately involve customers throughout the development process by using focus groups, interviews, customer visits, field evaluations, etc.
• Use prototypes to obtain feedback on product features and to evaluate design for manufacturability
  • Rapid Prototyping is the automatic construction of physical objects using solid freeform fabrication
• Interact frequently with production/manufacturing to ensure design can be manufactured at targeted costs
  • Product Data Management (PDM) tools provide valuable functionality with process management particularly as it relates to configuration management or engineering change control.
• Target evaluation and testing of required performance features early in the development process
  • Information and resources about building regulations, codes, and standards for residential construction
• Develop production or manufacturing plans, including production facility requirements
• American Society for Quality

• Collaborative Computing Technology
• Terms
• Technical
• Product Development Technology
• Design Optimization
• Manufacturing Systems
• Material handling systems
• Accounting and Cash Flows
• Intellectual Property