eD-RPM. Welcome to Alva’s site. This site is all about ethnoDesign, Rapid Prototyping and Manufacturing (eD-RPM) relevant to my expertise. These three things of eD-RPM are carried out in series starting from design, then prototyping and finally manufacturing. Virtually, these can be done simultaneously in computer. Theoretically, a new product can be designed on the basis of two poles i.e. market pull and technology push. In the market pull basis, product is designed to accommodate the needs of market or users, and the needs are identified using ethnography method which is then the term of design becomes ethnoDesign. Since market actually does not know their actual needs, therefore, the consideration in the design is not only factor of market, but also other factors such as the trend of technology, environment (3R), health & safety, government regulation, intellectual property right (IPR) and aesthetic&ergonomics. Whilst, in the technology push, product is designed on the basis of technology they have, then finding its market. Thus, in term of financial risk, design based on the technology push has higher risk comparing to that of the market pull. In fact, there is no pure market pull and technology push as a starting point in the design. There is a closed loop between market and technology poles, although, the size of the loop depends on the type of products. Automotive product will be different to that of electronic product. Since time is one important thing among the other things such as quality and cost, then prototyping (in this context, types of prototype are alpha and beta prototypes) and manufacturing processes have to be taken place rapidly in order to get faster in introducing its product into market. For these, many manufacturing companies presently invest the newest technology such as rapid prototyping machines (Layer Manufacturing Technology/Solid Free Form Fabrication) and other advanced manufacturing equipments.
