MANUFACTURING GOES VIRTUAL
Section: Feature manufacturing
CAD-like technologies are being widely used for design and simulation of manufacturing processes, equipment, and facilities.
There's a great deal of information wrapped up in today's 3D CAD models, so the push is on to leverage this asset throughout the enterprise. Perhaps no where is this effort so evident as in virtual manufacturing, which can be defined as the use of software to design, simulate, visualize and optimize discrete-parts manufacturing operations, processes, and facilities.
Put another way, virtual manufacturing is to manufacturing processes what today's 3D CAD/CAM/ CAE systems are to products: a way to model, evaluate, and refine a complex system entirely in the computer, before time and money are spent on the real thing. As with most emerging technologies, virtual manufacturing goes by many names: digital factory, digital plant, digital manufacturing, virtual factory, and others; some experts feel the term computer-aided production engineering (CAPE) is perhaps best.
Whatever you call it, this technology is swiftly gaining momentum, and the widespread use of CAD in product development is just one of the factors fueling its growth. The technology has its roots in the automotive industry, where the need to shorten time to market, reduce costs, and improve product quality are especially acute, and today is being widely used in the world's leading automobile manufacturers. Other industries are now jumping on the bandwagon as they see the benefits of technology. Indeed, customers of virtual manufacturing vendors include most of the world's leading manufacturers in the aerospace, automotive, electronics, and heavy machinery industries. Of course, the falling cost and increasing performance of computers has helped accelerate the use of this technology as it depends on systems that can efficiently handle complex 3D models.
Why Go Virtual?
The business reasons for investing in virtual manufacturing technology are much the same as for CAD/CAM/CAE. "Faster market response times and lower production costs are bottom line benefits to user companies. Lose the race on either of those fronts, and you are left behind; dead before you know it," says Bob Brown, president of Deneb Robotics Inc., a developer of virtual manufacturing software.
Tecnomatix, another maker of virtual manufacturing software, also makes the point that while CAD and CAE have drastically improved product design, and factory automation equipment has vastly improved shop floor operations, the middle
Section: Feature manufacturing
CAD-like technologies are being widely used for design and simulation of manufacturing processes, equipment, and facilities.
There's a great deal of information wrapped up in today's 3D CAD models, so the push is on to leverage this asset throughout the enterprise. Perhaps no where is this effort so evident as in virtual manufacturing, which can be defined as the use of software to design, simulate, visualize and optimize discrete-parts manufacturing operations, processes, and facilities.
Put another way, virtual manufacturing is to manufacturing processes what today's 3D CAD/CAM/ CAE systems are to products: a way to model, evaluate, and refine a complex system entirely in the computer, before time and money are spent on the real thing. As with most emerging technologies, virtual manufacturing goes by many names: digital factory, digital plant, digital manufacturing, virtual factory, and others; some experts feel the term computer-aided production engineering (CAPE) is perhaps best.
Whatever you call it, this technology is swiftly gaining momentum, and the widespread use of CAD in product development is just one of the factors fueling its growth. The technology has its roots in the automotive industry, where the need to shorten time to market, reduce costs, and improve product quality are especially acute, and today is being widely used in the world's leading automobile manufacturers. Other industries are now jumping on the bandwagon as they see the benefits of technology. Indeed, customers of virtual manufacturing vendors include most of the world's leading manufacturers in the aerospace, automotive, electronics, and heavy machinery industries. Of course, the falling cost and increasing performance of computers has helped accelerate the use of this technology as it depends on systems that can efficiently handle complex 3D models.
Why Go Virtual?
The business reasons for investing in virtual manufacturing technology are much the same as for CAD/CAM/CAE. "Faster market response times and lower production costs are bottom line benefits to user companies. Lose the race on either of those fronts, and you are left behind; dead before you know it," says Bob Brown, president of Deneb Robotics Inc., a developer of virtual manufacturing software.
Tecnomatix, another maker of virtual manufacturing software, also makes the point that while CAD and CAE have drastically improved product design, and factory automation equipment has vastly improved shop floor operations, the middle
