1. Today there are several 3D printing technologies able to create physical parts directly from CAD files (e.g., stereolithography and selective laser sintering). How might a team use such rapid prototyping technologies during the concept development phase of the product development process? Might these technologies facilitate identifying customer needs, establishing specifications, generating product concepts, selecting product concepts, and/or testing product concepts?
2. Some companies have reportedly abandoned the practice of doing a customer test with the early prototypes of their products, preferring instead to go directly and quickly to market in order to observe the actual customer response. For what types of products and markets might this practice make sense?