3D data not only simplifies the daily work of engineers, it also offers advantages for after-sales. But in many companies in the mechanical and plant engineering sector, the potential of three-dimensional visualizations sits unused in internal design. This article summarizes why this is a mistake.
Engineers and designers in manufacturing companies have long benefited from the convenience that 3D CAD data offers them for their work. In contrast to 2D data, 3D data opens up many more perspectives on plants, machines, equipment and individual parts. 3D visualizations are thus much closer to reality than their two-dimensional predecessors.
Beyond departmental boundaries, however, 3D visualization is rarely used in industry. After all, what do your marketing department, your sales staff or even your customers get out of images in three-dimensional format? Quite a lot!
Anyone working with 3D data outside of design can more quickly and easily identify what device or part is in the image.
Machine builders can use these features, for example
Industrial companies that already create 3D data in CAD systems and use it in design are therefore sitting on a valuable treasure trove of data. This has the potential to simplify work in other departments and, above all, to help sales leverage new revenue potential.
Why do most machine and plant manufacturers not take advantage of these opportunities and only grant other departments access to derived 2D drawings? There are three main reasons for this:
The good news: companies don't have to invest in new licenses or fear high training costs and security gaps if they want to make their 3D visualizations from the design department accessible to other departments.
Existing 3D data from CAD systems can easily be made available to other internal departments or customers: To do this, they are simply transferred to a digital spare parts catalog or to the technical documentation. This creates a digital 3D spare parts catalog that presents 3D CAD files in a user-friendly way and makes them interactively usable on various end devices.
The transfer is automated or, if desired, manual if certain changes are to be made before the 3D models can be used outside the design process. For example, it is possible to configure which information is to be displayed for which department and at what level of detail.
In this way, internal departments and customers have defined access to 3D visualizations and are able to use them for their own purposes - and without needing access to expensive CAD systems or training. Compared to 2D data, 3D data in spare parts catalogs conveys even more information, is intuitive to use and even invites users to interact with it.
3D data made usable without boundaries is the key to connecting compartmentalized data silos - and thus a driver of enterprise digitalization. Transferring 3D CAD data into the workflows of sales, after-sales and other departments is easy with the right catalog software.
It's best to reach for these low hanging fruits today if you already have 3D data in use. Find out how your internal departments and your customers can safely use 3D spare parts catalogs, what the typical use cases and benefits are in the other blog articles in our 3D series.
Continue here to Part 2: Displaying Spare Parts Interactively and In a Copy-Proof Manner - With the 3D Spare Parts Catalog
