Agile product development through CAD and rapid prototyping technologies: an examination in a traditional pump-manufacturing company

The pump industry is the one which is yet to exhibit agile characteristics by evolving new models quickly in accordance with the dynamic demands of the customers. The researchers have not yet explored the potential of infusing agile characteristics in the pump industry. In order to initiate exploration in this direction, the research reported in this paper was carried out. To begin with, the empirical equations used for designing the pump components namely impeller and casing were referred. Subsequently, a software to compute the parameters using these empirical equations was developed. By inputting these parameters in a Pro/E software package, four new solid models of impeller and casing were designed. These newly designed models were subjected to analysis using GAMBIT and FLUENT software packages. Subsequently, rapid prototyping technology was adopted to develop the prototype of one of those models of impeller. In order to obtain the industry view of this research, four practicing experts were approached with a questionnaire to gather their reactions. The results of their reactions indicated that this research could be practically applied to achieve agile product development through the interfacing of computer-aided design (CAD) and rapid prototyping technologies.