Time, money and quality specifications must be reviewed and understood. Quantity First To begin method selection requires an appreciation for the cost of quality. In general, as quality increases there will be a disproportional increase in both project expense and delivery. If production materials, tolerances and texturing are required, expect cost and delivery to be in line with a production tool. It is easy to declare that all production related constraints must be satisfied.
Challenges arise when evaluating acceptable levels of compromise.
Yet, compromise is required, and often appropriate, when achieving drastic reductions in time and expense. For proper selection, project constraints must be realistically defined. The selection process can be a difficult and arduous task, when quality specifications are identified in the beginning of a project. To make the process more manageable, begin by identifying the number of parts required. In prototype development, the unit cost and production rate decrease as tooling prices increase.