Automated Work Instructions and Production Documentation with XVL

Creating Work Instructions From 3D That Are Easily Understood and Rapidly Shared

The more complex a product, the more critical it is that proper planning and understanding of the production process is performed: Production of even the smallest electronic products, through to massive aerospace and automotive products, can become expensive and time consuming if it is planned incorrectly or if training is inadequate. Being able to properly plan, simulate and then train assembly processes becomes a function that has far-reaching consequences across many departments and many budget stakeholders including: Engineering, Production, and Support.

Typically Manufacturing Process Instructions have been created through tedious manual input and creation. But manufacturers seeking for leaner and more efficient ways to deliver manufactured product need to look closely at how the Manufacturing Work Instructions can be generated directly from their 3D design and engineering data. By being able to create instructions directly from 3D data including parts list information, notes and other information, manufacturers can address serious weaknesses in a lean manufacturing process, as well as increase accuracy, significantly improve on production delays, and have perfectly trained shop floor workers on hand.

These benefits are delivered by Lattice Technology's Digital Manufacturing solutions. Using XVL Studio, a process engineer can quickly and easily create step-by-step work instructions for manufacturing the product, automatically create animations, and test for tolerances and clearances directly on the 3D data. The instructions, with the full 3D data, related list data and animations, can be easily shared and viewed using the free XVL Player from Lattice Technology.

Using Lattice3D Reporter and XVL Web Master the process instructions can be rapidly converted into fully usable 3D spreadsheets in Microsoft Excel, and into HTML for use on the Internet or an Intranet.

Manufacturing information can be delivered into XVL from various sources including embedded in the 3D CAD data, or delivered from spreadsheets, PLM, ERP and other data infrastructures. This data, alongside the 3D, is delivered as XVL data and can be viewed on a spreadsheet, HTML page, or viewable XVL file for use on the shop floor and in other departments in manufacturing.

Shop Floor workers can use consoles to view and review the process instructions, and the very lightweight format of XVL allows for the data to be rapidly shared in a secure environment.

Based upon the industry-leading XVL format, massive 3D assemblies are compressed into small file sizes with no loss of accuracy on the data. XVL solutions deliver mathematical interrogation and verification of the design data, alongside robust tools for tolerance checking, simulation, animation and sharing of the results

The XVL Studio and Lattice3D Reporter tools allow product engineers to truly leverage 3D CAD data for faster, more effective product design, while reducing costs for manufacturing companies.

• Click here to view more information on XVL Studio
• Click here to view more information on Lattice3D Reporter

Key Benefits

With XVL, digital assembly simulations and animations quickly become an active part of the process with the following benefits:

• Reduce or eradicate costly errors before going to production - Ability to verify assembly processes prior to the start of the production
• Increase productivity - Early training of assembly processes using XVL animations allows production to ramp up very quickly
• Experience more economic reuse of 3D data - Direct use of animations as visual instructions on the shop floor
• Streamline your digital manufacturing workflows - Use 3D digital data in this stage as an integrated part of the digital manufacturing process
• Maintain consistency throughout the workflow - Use even the largest 3D digital assemblies, by compressing them into XVL with no loss of accuracy of the data
• Get to market faster - Increased accuracy of assembly delivers more products at higher quality.
• Decrease reliance on specially trained CAD users for downstream tasks - No need for specially trained CAD engineers and expensive CAD seats while creating simulations and animations of assemblies

Functionality

• Automated disassembly. Automated disassembly of parts streamlines the simulation and animation processes
• Clearance and interference checking. Perform both static and dynamic interference and clearance checks on any 3D parts easily and quickly.
• Excel-based reporting. Report problems found with assembly simulation via Excel spreadsheet.
• Easily integrated. Integrate the workflow directly within your PLM, PDM or ERP system easily with XVL System Toolkit.
• Full 3D view control. Pan, rotate, and zoom with high fidelity/resolution graphics ... and with full control for high fidelity display even when zoomed.
• Incorporate assembly structure and parts lists. Regroup, change name/ assembly, edit properties of parts within the model, and dynamically display, hide, color, and position components.
• Transparent display/cross-sections. Use transparent views, cross-sections to view and analyze procedures.
• Create/publish freeform 3D docs. Combine 3D XVL data, 2D images, structured data, text, and graphics in a single document.
• Automatic publishing via templates. Automatically generate interactive 3D web pages that include: 3D models, animations, 2D illustrations, parts lists, databases, assembly trees, and more.
• Security. Control access to your 3D data, using NIST (AES) encryption and 3 levels of password protection.
• Unlimited model size. Convert even very large CAD assemblies into lightweight, inter-active 3D models .