Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to investigate the adoption of rapid prototyping (RP) technology using three dimensional (3D) printer for infusing agility in traditional manufacturing environment. Design/methodology/approach -The computer aided design (CAD) model of a knob of an electronics switch is developed using Pro/E software. Keeping this model as a reference, CAD models of new six knobs are developed. A 3D printer is used to build the prototypes of five of those CAD models. The receptivity of the practitioners over adopting CAD models and 3D printer for achieving agility is investigated. Findings -The sensitisation of the industry captains and employees of traditional manufacturing sector is the imperative for exploiting the power of 3D printer and achieving mass customisation. Originality/value -The paper reports an original research in which the practicality of using 3D printer is investigated with the objective of enabling the traditional manufacturing companies to imbibe agile characteristics.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the researches reported in literature on agile manufacturing (AM) and determine the avenues by which agility can be imparted in traditional sectors.Design/methodology/approachAfter reviewing the literature on AM, it has been found that these papers address AM along as many as 12 directions. The findings of this review are used to design a model called total agile design system (TADS).FindingsThe major finding of the exploration reported in this paper is that, the need of the hour is to sensitize the traditional sectors for acquiring design capabilities compatible for imbibing agility in totality.Research limitations/implicationsThe TADS model proposed has been reviewed only by 25 industry captains. However, this may not affect the credibility of this model as it is designed by referring to a large number of researches reported in peer reviewed articles appeared in leading international journals.Practical implicationsAfter designing, TADS was exposed to 25 industry captains. Their feedback was gathered using a questionnaire. The results of analysis of their feedback indicates the practical compatibility of TADS.Originality/valueIt appears that no researcher has identified the different directions in which AM researches have progressed. Moreover, no researcher has contributed a model to adopt computer aided design (CAD)/computer aided manufacturing (CAM) and rapid prototyping (RP) technologies in totality to achieve agility in manufacturing organisations. As this paper has overcome the absence of these kinds of researches, it is original and valuable.

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