ePrototyper®.

ePrototyper® is useful in several environments. It is typically adopted in the technical and commercial management phase of requests that cannot be granted with catalogue products, i.e. in defining the main components of a new order. The main function of the package is to quickly fill in a material/processing matrix without the need for full system record prerequisites. In other words, the package is designed to start from a blank sheet and allow users to quickly enter the bill of materials and the processing cycle of the product to be manufactured.

ePrototyper® does not necessarily require the use of items previously listed in the system and is able to use the most suitable references for the specific situation: users can insert both new codes and master codes with their attributes into the matrix at any level of the list. These latter functionalities highlight another typical use of ePrototyper®: the variation of a previously completed supply by modifying materials and/or processes based on a reference product or model.

A versatile and across-the-board tool

In summary, the tool can be used for two basic purposes:

• The prior and rapid evaluation of the material-processing composition of a supply to be manufactured, i.e. prototyping for a technical-commercial quote.
• The complete and final definition of materials and processes required for an acquired supply, i.e. a product configuration intended to be translated into an actual production demand. In both cases, it is possible to take the initial prototype as a reference for the actual construction that follows and feed it into an appropriate future reference file.