Design Reviews with a 3D Digital Twin
The Solution
Perform engineering design reviews on your entire 3D virtual product model. Design Reviews should be performed on the complete product not necessarily as it was designed.
Design reviews can be slow and difficult. They often require an expensive CAD license and a high-end workstation, which limits who can participate. Even high-end workstations cannot handle extremely large models. Instead, only small sections of the model can be reviewed at a time. These limitations make it easy to miss issues, which become more expensive to fix when they are discovered later in the process.
Design and CAD file-centric. Products are designed in the design department by CAD operators. A complex product may have hundreds or thousands of parts, and may be in different CAD files. This has nothing to do with how a design review should be conducted; rather, the design review would be holistic, examining the entire product or sections of the entire product.
Perform engineering design reviews on your entire 3D virtual product model. Design Reviews should be performed on the complete product not necessarily as it was designed.
A Design Review Solution should:
Bottom Line: Comprehenisve Deisgn Reviews enable the finding and fixing of issues early to improve quality, reduce costs, and shorten time-to-market.
- Design Review (this eBooklet)
- 3D Drawings
- Assembly Process Planning & Validation
- Manufacturing Work Instructions
- Technical Illustrations
- Technical Documentation
- Electronic Spare Parts Catalogs
You start by converting ALL heavy 3D CAD models into lightweight XVL (even multiple proprietary formats). The single XVL model can contain all of the 3D CAD files that were used to design the complete product.
This 3D Digital Twin used for Design Review has CAD-level accuracy, and it
contains all of the metadata from the originating 3D CAD system, including
Product Manufacturing Information (PMI).
XVL uses native 3D proprietary data from 3D CAD systems, not dumbed-down open formats. XVL can handle very large models (all 3D CAD files that comprise it), so you can review the entire model all at once. XVL runs on standard computers (even laptops and tablets—and is even viewable on a smartphone), making it easy to host design reviews with others who don't have access to high-end workstations.
Static interference checks and other tools automatically scan the entire model for issues. Lattice Technology's design review solution makes it easy to find and fix problems before the design is released.
This same 3D Digital Twin used for Design Reviews can be used up and down the product lifecycle.
This 3D Digital Twin used for Design Review has CAD-level accuracy, and it contains all the metadata from the originating 3D CAD system, including Product Manufacturing Information (PMI).
This eBooklet is about Design Reviews with the 3D Digital Twin.
However, it fits into the context of the overall theme of Digital Transformation for the manufacturing company.
Design Review is just one piece of the puzzle. The XVL Design Review solution can be used standalone with your 3D CAD data but it is much better to consider it within the larger picture of Digital Transformation.
Digital Transformation is the process of integrating digital technologies into all areas of a business to fundamentally change how it operates and delivers value to its customers.
The goal of Digital Transformation for a manufacturing company is to create a more agile and responsive organization that can quickly adapt to changing market demands and stay ahead of the competition to better serve its customers while increasing profit margins.
For a company that designs and manufactures complex products, 3D product data is central to Digital Transformation initiatives and spans the product lifecycle.
Digital Transformation is the process of integrating digital technologies into all areas of a business to fundamentally change how it operates and delivers value to its customers.
When a company embarks on its Digital Transformation journey, where to start is always an important question. For some solutions, Digital Transformation requires a fundamental shift and lots of changes all at once. That is not true with XVL solutions from Lattice Technology. For instance, you can start with Design Review and leave your other processes alone.
Start Your Digital Transformation Journey with Design Review
Design Review can be used by other ANY stakeholder for different purposes up and down the product life cycle.
At the heart of the XVL solutions from Lattice Technology is the 3D Digital Twin. Here is a quick recap of its benefits:
The 3D Digital Twin is the foundation for Design Review and all of the other solutions from Lattice Technology.
Design Review with XVL provides access to data just like that is available in a 3D CAD system but much much easier to use. Even non-technical people can navigate the 3D model and access all the metadata from the native 3D CAD systems.
For instance, the video below shows the interactivity of 3D Digital Twin when examining Semantic PMI for a product.
With Lattice Technology, you can review the entire model at once. There's no need to break the model into subassemblies to review, and there are no missing issues from incomplete reviews.
Design Reviews should not be limited to only the parts.
With a XVL using a 3D Digital Twin, all aspects of manufacturing can be included and simulated. For instance:
XVL 3D Drawings can replicate annotations such as PMI and drawing views found in 2D drawings. XVL also retains design information, such as CATIA V5 geometrical sets, allowing the drawings to be viewed similarly to 3D CAD files.
Lattice Technology's software runs on standard computers -- even laptops. No need for high-end hardware or expensive CAD licenses - you can perform design reviews anywhere. You can also bring people into the reviews who otherwise wouldn't have access.
Lattice Technology's design review solution includes automatic tools like static interference checks. These tools can review the entire model and automatically detect hard-to-find issues between parts and assemblies. They can display the issues with color maps and cross-section views, making them easy to see, understand and fix. Then, when the model is updated you can run them again to make sure that the issues are fixed and no new issues have been introduced.
With XVL, your design reviews are not limited to a single CAD model or even a single 3D format. It's common for different components to be designed in different systems, or to be outsourced entirely. Lattice Technology's tools can import models from any source, in any format. You can build a complete model for your design reviews, and find issues between systems that would be impossible to find any other way.
Lattice Technology's solution includes many other tools, such as cross sectioning, measurements, and dynamic collision detection, that you can use to review the design. All the review work can be saved with the model, so that you can share it with other stakeholders.
Lattice Technology offers the ability to directly generate issue reports with images or 3D models. Providing clear, easy-to-understand reports in 2D and 3D enhances collaboration and gives the designers the information they need to quickly understand and resolve design issues.
CATIA V5 users can take advantage of geometrical sets within XVL. This allows users to navigate their design data using the same geometry sets as in CATIA V5, improving the efficiency of 3D Drawing validation.
The foundation for 3D Drawings and all of Lattice Technology's XVL-based solutions is the 3D Digital Twin.
Here are some resources:
We are always happy to discuss your challenges and the opportunities that XVL from Lattice Technology could bring to your company.
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This eBook:
Design Reviews with a 3D Digital Twin
Lattice Technology solutions drive digital transformation in the manufacturing industry. Our award-winning XVL Technology enables major manufacturers to innovate their business processes and improve quality, reduce cost and shorten time-to-market.
Using Lattice Technology solutions, engineers and non-engineers alike can easily review product designs, simulate assembly processes, author work instructions, create documentation and more — all directly from 3D engineering data.
Lattice Technology serves the global 500 and their suppliers.
Founded in 1997, Lattice Technology has offices in Japan and North America and works with resellers in 91 countries.
