(((This has got to be some kind of ultimate BEYOND THE BEYOND
post: it's got major spime implications AND it's all about the culture-warfare dissemination of wacky tech neologisms.
"Rapid Manufacturing." Yeah, okay, sure...)))
http://home.att.net/~castleisland/nm_01.htm#rm
Confusion among the synonyms
Along the way "rapid prototyping" has been called by several additional pet names provided by corporations, writers and the academic community. Here are some that you'll see from time to time:
Desktop manufacturing (DTM) - This was an early term and from which one of the early companies in the field derived its name (DTM, Inc.). Unfortunately, the only "desk" that one of these machines in the early days could have fit on was something like a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier. Only in recent years have any additive fabrication machines been able to fit on anything resembling furniture. There will very likely always be additive fabrication machines that won't fit on desks limiting the generality of the term. DTM doesn't come up often, but it still appears once in a while.
Solid freeform fabrication (SFF) / freeform fabrication (FFF) - The academic community likes these very much. However, the words don't sing and are too much of a mouthful to lead to great popularity. Nevertheless, they're often used in academic papers and patents, and aren't going to go away soon.
Solid imaging / solid imager - 3D Systems and some Japanese companies have used these terms, often applying them specifically to stereolithography, but sometimes meaning the entire field. Solid imaging seems to have fallen by the wayside in recent years, but is still seen once in a while.
Fabber / fabbing - Author Marshall Burns has promoted this term. When he was in academia, we observed his students freely engaging in its use. It leaves open the possibility of an X-acto knife or a milling machine being called a fabber, which they are. In addition, the term is far too redolent of the decade of the sixties. Using the term "fabber" will lead to wanton interpersonal acts, distortions of reality and very loud music.
Layered manufacturing / layered fabrication - All of the commercial systems do indeed operate by making layers and bonding them - some thicker, some thinner. But additive fabrication systems need not do so by definition. There are other ways to add materials together to make things that have been described in the literature. For example, one could build an object in a cylindrical fashion. It's not likely that other such geometries will be of much commercial interest soon, so layered fabrication is not so bad. The term seems mostly to come up in trade magazines when writers are explaining the field to an unfamiliar audience.
When will it all end and agreement on terminology be reached? It will never end and agreement will never be reached. Instead, users and the general public will slowly center on the terminology that makes the most sense for their use of the technology in particular applications. Certain nomenclature will emerge as clear winners. We predict:
The entire field will be known one day as additive fabrication.
Rapid manufacturing will become known as additive manufacturing, but additive fabrication will also frequently be used.
Rapid tooling will be most often associated with technologies that make tools directly, but confusion will continue.
Freestanding and desktop machines that are used to make prototypes, models and parts will be called 3D printers, regardless of the flavor of technology actually used.
Stereolithography will continue to be used as a synonym for additive fabrication, and will extend to other emerging photopolymer-based technologies, as well.
Rapid prototyping will slowly dwindle away, and eventually won't be used at all - because it's not really rapid and it does much more than make prototypes.
http://www.dexigner.com/design_news/5658/
