If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -To provide a systematic framework for mold designers, that can be used for rapid tooling (RT) process selection and prioritization of process parameters. Design/methodology/approach -This paper presents a QFD-AHP methodology which has three phases. The first phase involves prioritizing the tooling requirements (driven by customer preferences) against a set of die/mold development attributes (such as product material, geometry, and die material and production order) through pair-wise comparison using analytical hierarchal process (AHP). These priority ratings are used for selecting the most appropriate tooling process using quality function deployment (QFD) in the second phase. Finally, QFD is used again for identifying critical process parameters (such as layer thickness, scan pitch and laser power) for the selected RT process. Findings -The QFD-AHP methodology has been illustrated with industrial examples on RT for molded parts. The molds were fabricated using direct metal laser sintering and spray metal tooling processes, for example, 1 and 2, respectively, to prove that the methodology can be easily implemented in tool rooms. The issues noted in these experimental studies are also discussed for the benefit of researchers.Research limitations/implications -The capabilities of the RT processes presented in the paper reflect the experience of the research team in RT development. The QFD-AHP methodology will give progressively better results with a growing body of RT process knowledge. Practical implications -This investigation is a key step towards the goal of developing a comprehensive system for RT process selection and manufacturability evaluation. The mold designer can use this QFD-AHP process selection methodology, prior to detailed manufacturability analysis, to better realize the benefits of RT technologies. Originality/value -The proposed QFD-AHP methodology is a new approach for the tooling process selection domain, and has not been reported earlier; this can be easily used for similar applications for any manufacturing domain.

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Tooling is an essential element of near net shape manufacturing processes such as injection molding and die casting, where it may account for over 25% of the total product cost and development time, especially when order quantity is small. Development of rapid and low cost tooling, combined with a scientific approach to mold cost estimation and control, has therefore become essential. This paper presents an integrated methodology for die and mold cost estimation, based on the concept of cost drivers and cost modifiers. Cost drivers include the geometric features of cavity and core, handled by analytical cost estimation approach to estimate the basic mold cost. Cost modifiers include tooling parameters such as parting line, presence of side core(s), surface texture, ejector mechanism and die material, contributing to the total mold cost. The methodology has been implemented and tested using 13 industrial examples. The average deviation was 0.40%. The model is flexible and can be easily implemented for estimating the cost of a variety of molds and dies by customizing the cost modifiers using quality function deployment approach, which is also described in this paper.

Spatiotemporal pattern formation in integro-differential equation models of interacting populations is an active area of research, which has emerged through the introduction of nonlocal intra-and inter-specific interactions. Stationary patterns are reported for nonlocal interactions in prey and predator populations for models with prey-dependent functional response, specialist predator and linear intrinsic death rate for predator species. The primary goal of our present work is to consider nonlocal consumption of resources in a spatiotemporal prey-predator model with bistable reaction kinetics for prey growth in the absence of predators. We derive the conditions of the Turing and of the spatial Hopf bifurcation around the coexisting homogeneous steady-state and verify the analytical results through extensive numerical simulations. Bifurcations of spatial patterns are also explored numerically.

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