I was just reading Patrick Michel’s article in Manufacturing Business Technology. It’s a pretty good read, as he makes people aware that “being green” in manufacturing doesn’t necessarily mean implementing the stereotypical alternative fixes such as solar panels on the plant roof.
While he is mostly talking about plant layout and simulation, using 3D web based digital manufacturing solutions, what really caught my eye was the comment someone gave at the end of the article:
The use of paper is still utilized and graphics and instructions are created for hand off to mechanics. It is in many cases too difficult to provide a laptop with the information, the laptop becomes cumbersome and difficult to maneuver and the opportunity for damage and theft to occur rises.
When you think about digital plant layout, process planning, and simulation in 3D, it is a natural extension to think about how the assembly instruction will be delivered. For those industries where sending interactive 3D work instructions to the shop floor is possible, this further adds to the “green” message: no more paper! Plus, using interactive 3D experiences to communicate instructions on the shop floor has been proven to be more efficient and improves quality (just ask our customers).
For those industries where paper is still a requirement, as the above commenter mentions, incredible time can still be saved if the documents can be automatically generated from the 3D digital manufacturing process plan. And since that digital plan can be easily kept up to date with process changes, geometry changes, configuration changes, effectivity changes, and work instruction changes, the paper documentation can easily be regenerated as needed. Plus the interactive 3D work instructions can still be used as a reference for new employees or for training purposes.
<soapbox alert>
And what Patrick didn’t say in the article, I will say: DELMIA is amazing when it comes to digital manufacturing. And of course, 3DVIA Composer is amazing when it comes to visual and interactive instructions. Imagine what you can get if you combine the two?
</soapbox alert>
