3D CAD Models for Industrial Equipment to keep your Manufacturing Processes Efficient

Posted by Jaydeep Chauhan on March 21, 2017

The impact of 4th industrial revolution on industrial equipment manufacturers is significant and has brought new ways of thinking from design to manufacturing. As an industrial equipment manufacturer, it is vital to evaluate your existing manufacturing processes and measure the efficiency, to successfully compete in the age of Industry 4.0, which is all about social, smart and flexible production with high value adding services.

To successfully transform your organization into an efficient manufacturing unit, there are few things you certainly need to know and ask few questions to establish best practices that are specific to your manufacturing setup.

Here is a list of few questions:

• Are you able to manage quick and more production without risking for errors, quote inaccuracies and product delivery?
• Can you utilize product knowledge to reuse existing elements and develop new variants of the same product?
• Are you able to trace the product development process right from start to end?
• Do you have the capability to offer your customers with customized products/machines/tools that meet their specific requirements?
• Can you coordinate completely with all the stakeholders and supply chain vendors located around the world?
• Can you provide better experience to customers with guided selling?

If the answer to above questions is YES, you probably are following industry best practices that lead to efficient manufacturing processes and in turn enhanced productivity and profitability. However, if you felt hesitant in answering few questions or answered NO to some or all of the questions, keep reading further!

Maintaining pace with the Industry 4.0 revolution requires adopting right tools and technologies that can work in your favor and help in improving the efficiency of manufacturing processes. It is important as a manufacturer to realize the need of eliminating 2D design workflows and embrace 3D modeling approach across the entire value chain. 3D models open multiple opportunities to keep design process efficient and communicate the product design clearly to both technical and non-technical staff.

With 3D CAD models, you can:

• Reduce design errors and gain better control over revisions
• Capture product design knowledge and create a library of elements that can be reused in other products
• Identify possible opportunities to adopt modular design approach by quickly modifying the geometry in a 3D environment
• Implement design automation to generate custom models, manufacturing drawings and technical documentation for ETO (Engineered-to-Order) industrial equipment
• Coordinate with stakeholders in a single shared environment and share design with supply chain vendors without any possibility of discrepancy
• Integrate configurators to help sales team as well as customers in creating enhanced guided selling experience
• Generate accurate quotes for each custom order by integrating cost within the 3D model
• Keep a single source of truth for product design across the value chain and reduce cost and time involved in comprehending the design and manufacturing the product
• The virtual models can be utilized for testing through simulation tools and can also be converted to photorealistic images using 3D rendering to develop marketing materials

Maintaining efficiency is a key for industrial equipment manufacturers to successfully compete in an age of Industry 4.0. And, this is possible through bringing about a change in the product design processes.

Manufacturers with the aid of 3D CAD platforms can aim for modular product architecture with ease and can also develop a strategy to reuse items and best practices. 3D CAD models eventually allow everyone involved in the product development process to remain on the same page through efficient collaboration and clear design communication.

About Author: Jaydeep Chauhan is an Engineering Specialist working at Mechanical 3D Modelling for the past 1 year. He caters critical engineering challenges with ease and performs exhaustive procedures to develop robust, well-engineered and high performance designs. He can always be found in the lab discussing, brainstorming and tweaking designs.