The speed at which products are developed and released to market is tightly linked to profitability and market share. Hence, many companies are still in a desperate need of real Rapid Tooling (RT) technologies which can really help to expedite their proto

The speed at which products are developed and released to market is tightly linked to profitability and market share. Hence, many companies are still in a desperate need of real Rapid Tooling (RT) technologies which can really help to expedite their prototype tooling and pre -production tooling for injection molding. Many other companies that have been very skeptical of RT technologies developed so far are working on Hybrid Tooling (HT) that can really meet the market standards. With the conviction that HT can be a reliable alternative for current RT technologies, this paper describes the experimentation how HT process has been being successfully established and effectively applied with typical case studies. Through the experimentation, Ceramic-filled HT was found to be aptly suited for the low grade mold, and Metal HT was found to be aptly suited for the medium volume mold both in terms of the lead time, dimensional accuracy, and tooling cost.

  “Getting to market first” is extremely critical in this competitive business environment. The speed at which products are developed and released to market is tightly linked to profitability and market share. Many companies that have been very skeptical