16 Feb 2026
There’s a dangerous assumption in product development that prototyping and production are separate worlds requiring different suppliers, different processes, and often different component designs.
We regularly hear from R&D engineering teams that work with a single supplier for the prototype stage to provide design and design-for-manufacture, then move to a high-volume manufacturer for production. It might sound logical, but it’s also expensive, time-consuming, and introduces risk at precisely the wrong moment.
The reality? The transition from prototype to production is where many promising products falter.
After 75 years supporting customers from concept through to volume production, we’ve seen what happens when prototype and production teams don’t collaborate from day one.
Re-engineering parts for high-volume manufacturing is counterproductive, as it can recreate toolpath optimisation, quality issues emerge in production that never appeared in prototypes, delay product launches while machining processes are re-engineered, and the design-for-manufacture knowledge about why certain design decisions were made is lost.
At R E Thompson, our rapid services team doesn’t work in isolation from our high-volume manufacturing operations. They’re the same people, using the same equipment, applying the same processes.
The only difference is the volume.
During prototyping, speed matters most. You’re validating design concepts, testing functionality, and processing quickly, as prototypes are often needed promptly, and the design phase is halted until completed.
Our rapid services deliver parts in days, not weeks, using our 24/7 lights-out manufacturing capabilities. But here’s the critical difference from most prototype shops: we’re already thinking about your production.
As your design matures, you enter qualification and testing. Parts need to be identical to what you’ll eventually produce at volume.
This is where many companies discover their prototype supplier’s processes don’t scale, or worse, that production suppliers want to change the design.
When the volume increases from tens to hundreds to thousands, lead times need to be compressed. Costs need to come down.
Quality systems need to support traceability and compliance. This is where the real challenge begins if you treat prototyping and production as separate problems.
When our manufacturing engineers engage during the prototype phase, they’re not just making parts to print. They’re asking questions about production intent.
What volumes are you targeting? What’s your cost target scale? Are these features necessary, or could we achieve the same function with a more manufacturable approach?
This isn’t about compromising your design. It’s about understanding manufacturing constraints before they become problems.
A small design modification that has no effect on functionality can dramatically reduce production costs or improve consistency in quality.
One automotive client needed six prototype housings for testing. Most rapid prototype suppliers have programmed these as one-offs, optimised purely for speed.
We programmed them on the same 5-axis CNC milling machine we would use for production, using toolpaths designed for scalability. The prototypes took an extra day to deliver, but when they moved into production six months later, the programs had already been proven and optimised.
No re-engineering. No surprises. No delays.
Every prototype run is an opportunity to validate production processes. We test fixturing approaches, verify tool life, confirm inspection methods, and validate cycle times during prototype manufacturing, not after.
When a defence contractor needed 15 prototype manifolds before committing to a 500-unit order, we used the prototype phase to optimise our automated pallet changeovers and verify our quality inspection procedures.
By the time the production order arrived, we’d already eliminated the learning curve.
Our automated pallet systems run the same whether we’re making five parts or five thousand. The difference is how many pallets we load and how long the machines run.
This consistency matters enormously. Parts you receive as prototypes are manufactured using the same processes as the parts you’ll receive at volume.
Same machines, same toolpaths, same inspection protocols.
Running 24/7 unattended manufacturing means we can deliver prototype quantities with production lead times. Need 20 parts next week? We can run them overnight while maintaining capacity for our production customers.
This flexibility eliminates the false choice between speed and scalability. You get both.
For prototypes, we source the same materials you’ll use in production. Not prototype-grade aluminium or “equivalent” titanium, but the exact alloys and certifications your production parts will require.
This matters for more than just mechanical properties. It ensures that machining characteristics, surface finish, and post-processing behaviour remain consistent from prototype through production.
An aerospace client learned this lesson the hard way. Their prototype supplier used readily available 6061 aluminium.
When they moved to production, the actual specification called for 6061-T651 with specific traceability requirements.
The production parts were machined differently. Surface finish changed. Their qualification testing was invalid. They had to start over again.
When we manufacture prototypes to aerospace specifications, we’re qualifying the entire supply chain from day one, not just the machining process.
Our quality inspection protocols don’t change between prototype and production. First article inspection reports, dimensional verification, material certifications, and traceability documentation are identical whether we’re making five parts or five thousand.
This has enormous implications for qualification and regulatory approval. The parts you test and qualify are manufactured under the same quality systems that will produce your volume orders.
During prototype runs, we collect the same statistical process control data we’ll use in production. This early visibility into process capability helps identify potential quality issues before they affect production yield.
A medical device manufacturer working with us discovered during prototyping that one critical dimension showed more variation than their specification allowed. We modified the fixturing approach and verified the improvement through the next prototype iteration.
By the time they reached production, the process was already proven capable.
Initial parts delivered within days using production intent processes. Design-for-manufacture collaboration identifies optimisation opportunities. First article inspection establishes a quality baseline.
Parts are manufactured using locked-down production processes. Process capability studies confirm consistency. The supply chain is fully qualified with production certifications.
Volume increases without process changes. Automated manufacturing scales to demand. Quality systems maintain the same rigour prototype through production.
This timeline works because we’re not switching suppliers, re-programming parts, or validating new processes at each transition. We’re simply increasing the volume of processes already proven.
The best time to think about production is before the design is finalised. Our manufacturing engineers participate in design reviews, offering insights about manufacturability, cost drivers, and quality risks.
This early collaboration often prevents expensive redesigns later.
Each design iteration is an opportunity to move closer to production-optimised processes. We share cycle time data, discuss fixturing approaches, and identify opportunities to reduce production costs without compromising functionality.
Parts used for qualification testing should be manufactured using production processes, not prototype shortcuts. This ensures your testing validates what you’ll actually produce.
A common mistake is to qualify parts made using prototype processes, only to discover that production parts behave differently.
We don’t separate prototypes and production because we don’t believe they should be separate. The same CNC machining centres, the same manufacturing engineers, and the same quality systems support both.
This integration means your prototypes are production-ready from the start, and your production ramps benefit from everything learned during prototyping.
Our investment in automated pallet systems and lights-out manufacturing creates genuine flexibility. We can deliver prototype quantities with production quality, then scale seamlessly as your volumes grow.
We work in partnership during design and value engineering to optimise parts for mass manufacture. This collaboration starts during prototyping, not after your design is locked.
The key to successful scaling isn’t finding a great prototype supplier and then finding a great production supplier. It’s finding a manufacturing partner who understands both and treats them as phases of a single process.
Whether you choose to treat prototyping and production as separate problems requiring different suppliers, or work with a partner who can support you from first article through volume production without re-engineering, requalification, or risk, the choice is yours.
However, making the right choice will significantly impact your time to market, your production costs, and ultimately your product’s success.
Contact our team to discuss how our integrated rapid services and production capabilities can support your product development from prototype through volume production. We’ll help you avoid the costly handoffs that delay launches and inflate costs.
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16 Feb 2026
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