Digital prototyping - is it for me?

Tag : Digital Glasses
The implications of this on a small manufacturing business areenormous. If you can produce fewer physical prototypes, you cansave the commensurate development costs and get your product intomanufacture and out to market faster than the competition.

Whilst most SMEs are aware of the advantages of 3D digitalprototyping, many are unwilling to move from their existing 2Dcapacity for fear it will be too costly or that it will create anuntenable interruption to workflow and production. Therefore manybelieve that digital prototyping is only for the big players withthe scale and financial muscle to invest in the requisite softwareand skills. But this is a misapprehension.

SMEs have easy and affordable access to digital prototyping tools;with a little help, small manufacturers can easily identify theirdigital prototyping capabilities and implement them with asurprising lack of interruption to operations. Some of the bigsuccess stories have been SME’s for whom the new software hasrevolutionised their business.

3D prototyping software can also help to clinch customer salespitches through the ability to demonstrate, with extreme clarity,exactly how a product will look and behave before it is produced. This minimises risk so effectively for a newbusiness prospect that, all else being equal, it’s hard tosay no.

This was a situation familiar to Dorman Long Technology,consultants and contractors of services to the constructionindustry and specialist sub-contractors for heavy lifting andskidding operations. Their recent high profile projects includeWembley Stadium, Heathrow’s T5 and Paddington Station.

“This is a highly competitive market,” says DormanLong’s senior CAD technician, Steve Garratt. “Bypresenting a solid rendered object with 3D views early in theprocess, we can accurately illustrate what the end result will looklike and so effectively involve clients in the development of thedesign and how it will meet their needs.”

One of the key aims in moving to solid modeling was to improvedesign communication. Every Dorman Long project is bespoke –tailored to the specific clients’ requirements. As a result,it was often extremely difficult to portray in 2D drawings whatthey were trying to achieve with highly-complex designs tonon-engineering clients. 3D digital modelling changed all that.

“We already had a positive view of what Inventor could do, asit was in use with a continental fabricator partner,” recallsGarratt. “We were impressed with its intuitive, easy-to-learnfunctionality.”

Just because you implement 3D digital design, it doesn’t meanyou have to abandon 2D drafting entirely, and this is a big concernfor smaller businesses for whom much of their work – andtheir valuable intellectual property – is still based on 2Ddrafting.

Almost three quarters of companies that use 3D modelling also use2D drafting.This means that by using a product like AutodeskInventor, which enables users to design either way, manufacturerswho have generated thousands of CAD drawings over the years cancontinue to use them. This puts the intellectual assets andknowledge that went into those drawings to the best possible use.

Dorman Long had been using 2D AutoCAD for over 10 years, but theyrecognised that the integration of 2D and 3D and interoperabilitywith AutoCAD would give them ideal design continuity and that therewould be negligible interruption to workflow during implementation.

As 3D digital design becomes more widespread, manufacturers realisethat the benefits extend beyond the virtual model. The ability tosee and experience the product – through testing andsimulation – before it is made is a huge advantage. Forexample, engineers could use it to calculate an eventual point offailure and design the product so that this is in a serviceablearea, so prolonging its life or even help work out what spares areneeded for the product over time.

Digital design vastly reduces the risk of error as data is input,extrapolated, updated and re-used, which frees-up engineers tothink creatively about new design variations. This is becausedigital prototyping enables any number and scope of changes to bemade quickly and without adding to costs. Once these have beenagreed and incorporated into a final design, a physical prototypecan then be generated, safe in the knowledge that it is unlikely tobe changed.

The ability to show customers an early example of a product isanother great feature of digital prototyping, encouraging detailedfeedback that will ensure the finished article meets clientexpectations. This also presents a persuasive opportunity for salesand marketing, making it easier and cheaper for companies todevelop speculative prototypes to persuade existing customers andnew prospects what the company could do for them, given the chance.

The only real limit is the team’s imagination, sincetoday’s tools are intuitive and easy to use with minimaltraining, ensuring a rapid payback. Whatever the size of thebusiness, firms with sophisticated 3D digital prototypingfacilities will find they have an extra tool with which to sharpentheir competitive edge.