'Application of CAD, rapid prototyping and reverse engineering in handicrafts sector - A success story'


Abstract


Handicraft products constitute asignificant part of the informal sector** of the Indian economy. Productinnovation and improvements in design technologies is necessary for keepingthis sector economically sustainable. Moradabad, a place in Northern Indiaabout 200 miles north east of New Delhi, is famous for its brassware products. This paper discusses the new and improved product design methodology to apply forthese products. It is true that rapid prototyping and tooling technologiescomplement successfully the computer aided design technique but it is necessaryto refine these technologies for successful product development especially in thecase of freeform objects for which no readymade mathematical definitions areavailable. The components like decorative pieces, wall-hanging, Flower Vasecontain free form, complex shapes and they generally have a lot of freedom tomodify according to user requirement. The prototypes of these components areconventionally manufactured by hand carving, clay modeling etc. Now, usingrapid prototyping and tooling as well as reverse engineering, these prototypes can be made in a far more effective manner. This paper discusses and presents an application of CAD, Rapid Prototyping and Reverse Engineering for brassware products. Product innovation and improvements in design technologies is necessary for keepingthis sector economically sustainable.


Index Terms- Brassware, CAD, Handicrafts, Prototype, Rapid Prototyping,Reverse Engineering



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About the Authors:


Sudhanshu Trivedi is a PhDScholar, UP Tech. Univ, India.

Amod Tiwari is a PhD Scholar, IIT, Kanpur, India.

Dr. Aurobinda Chatterjee is a Sr.Research Engineer, IIT, Kanpur.

Dr. Vinay Pathak is an Asstt. Prof.HBTI, Kanpur, India.

Prof. Sanjay G. Dhande is a Professor (ME & CSE), IIT, Kanpur.

Prof.Durg S. Chauhan is a Vice-Chancellor, UP Tech Univ., Lucknow, India.

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** Since the release of the report ofa comprehensive the term informal sector has gained acceptance ininternational official documents. Initially the informal sector was consideredto be mainly composed of the urban working poor migrated from rural areas insearch of work. Later it was recognised as an important employment-generatingsector and an important source of production and income (Hussmanns and Mehran1989). The Fifteenth International Conference of Labour Statisticians (15thICLS), held in January 1993, eventually adopted a resolution on concerningstatistics of employment in the informal sector that provides an internationalstatistical standard definition of informal sector.