Making both CAD renderings and BOM information available to all systems on the factory floor and outside its doors cuts costs and raises productivity, whether the product is new or remanufactured.
Jean Thilmany, Senior Editor
For many years, a three-dimensional product remained locked inside the computer-aided design system, meaning only the engineers who had designed the model could access its associated data. Sometimes that information was shared with a select few people in manufacturing to assure engineers the part could be manufactured as defined.
In today’s digital age, manufacturers saw no reason for that information to go to waste.
他们知道，模型数据可用于提高效率和降低成本的多种方式。例如，它可以推动数字双胞胎的构建，以反映该产品在现实世界中的运行方式。它可以与物质信息清单相关联，以预测要购买和管理物流的原材料。
Beyond the factory floor, marketing departments could refer to the models to answer potential customer questions. And they would certainly be a boon to service and repair people, who could consult them to learn more about a part and a product.
But freeing that information from the CAD system has come with two pretty significant drawbacks. The first is that CAD models must be essentially translated before they can be used by other software systems across the company. The second is the offer of data visualizations to any number of users. If they can see a rendering of the product, and can dive down into its individual parts they can better understand how the product works and to repair and maintain it.
And then there’s Industry 4.0, which moves to digitize the entire manufacturing plant. The move necessitates pushing product models—and the 3-D data they contain—across the extended enterprise to business systems like the enterprise resource management system.
“Access to 3-D models and product data across the extended enterprise has been a major barrier to collaboration for cross-functional teams for decades,” says Dan Murray, who founded Vertex. The company takes CAD information into the cloud and turns it into a high-quality rendering that is tied to the BOM.
The rendering software allows models and information to be quickly and easily shared with the ERP, the product lifecycle management, marketing, and many other business systems. That data has use beyond the factory walls. Repair and service people, for example, would easily be able to reference a simulated model on their tablet.
That’s a big key for Vertex. The rendered CAD models—no matter how intricate—are available on tablets and even smartphones, Murray says.
他展示了一个错综复杂的飞机国防部的例子el that included CAD information for every part on the aircraft, no matter how small. The rendered results were almost instantly viewable on a smartphone. Data-heavy sets like these can take several minutes to load even on a powerful desktop computer. To see the model pop up quickly and to manipulate it—zoom in on a part, move the drawing, and look up part information—in real time can actually be startling, just like the internet itself was in its early days.
For Industry 4.0, software like Vertex’s enables companies to integrate 3D visualization anywhere along the digital thread. Gartner research defines the digital thread—and by extension a product’s digital twin is “a virtual representation of a product, process, or system from inception, through production, to operation.”
英格兰伯明翰大学的机械工程教授Mairi Kerin说，数字双胞胎由三个主要要素组成。它由：
• a real product in real space
•虚拟空间中的虚拟产品
• the connections of data and information that tie the “products” together
For digital efforts to move forward within manufacturing, product data must be easily integrated across all the systems that will use it, says Sonal Naik, managing director of Deloitte Catalyst, a consultancy that helps startups by connecting their prototypes with a larger community,
Naik说：“随着制造商继续进行数字化转型之旅，所有工人的指尖（无论是在工厂的地板上还是在现场服务中）的价值只是在增长。”“当我们将这些数据从文本转换为图片和视频时，它会推动更多的价值。”
穿过中间的线
Though the digital thread ties every stage of a product by defining it in digital forms, the term mostly refers to products in their first go-round: from initial inception to creation. What’s not as discussed is how digital transformation applies for what’s called “middle-of-life” or remanufacturing, use.
The capability to share CAD models across many types of software systems holds great potential to drive that sector forward, say industry watchers including TWI, a membership organization in Cambridge, England, that consults with remanufacturing companies, offering information on engineering, materials, and joining technologies.
Remanufacturers rebuild and recover previously sold, worn, or nonfunctional product that can be rebuilt and recovered. They do this in a number of ways, including by disassembling and cleaning the product, repairing it, or replacing worn or obsolete components, according to TWI.
The remanufactured piece can be returned to a “like-new” or even a “better-than-new” condition. The process differs from recycling in that products retain their general form, even if it includes remade parts. With recycling, the product is broken down into component parts, which are then remade into something completely new, the consultancy says.
再制造业中的那些人需要直接访问产品的数字双胞胎：但是对于可能是在一段时间之前生产的产品或原始制造商无法提供数字双胞胎的产品而言，这并不总是那么容易。毕竟，数字工厂仍处于起步阶段。许多公司没有维护模型信息和视觉文件。
The problem is compounded by the fact that no ultimate, universal definition of the digital twin—not to mention associated standards—exists today, say a team of four researchers who write about the challenges of using a digital twin for remanufacturing in the May 2022 issue of the International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology.
在资产生活的每个阶段，都有必要更新虚拟双胞胎以匹配真正的双胞胎。“但是，仍然需要从资产生活中以前的要点访问数据。”
为了在中期再制造中使用主要的数字记录，包括数字双胞胎，研究人员提出了一种统一的建模语言，可以应用于要重新制造的通用资产。
For example, the original as-built CAD data the digital twin provides can help remanufacturers find a way to machine a vital part they need to remake a product.
The researchers propose what they call digital siblings, which provide information about a product at different states of creation and use. These include the data information used to make the part, of course, as well as digital data on how the part might appear in the future states and at what manufacturers call end-of-life, which is when a product can no longer be used or remade, Kerin says.
The sibling could help remanufacturers determine if a product is at the end of its life, or if it could be remade.
“That way, remanufacturers have visibility of the previous state, current state, and potential future states of the asset whether that be a component, product, system, or process,” she says.
In addition, remanufacturers can use the bill of material data tied to the sibling to ensure their product will meet the definition of “remanufactured” by matching or surpassing the “as-new” performance the BOM depicts. If their parts lists match those of the original product, remanufacturers can be pretty sure they can say their products are “good as new.”
研究人员提出的数字兄弟姐妹建议的通用资产模型将使用统一的建模语言（UML），这是绘制软件模型，勾勒出设计或记录现有设计和系统的标准方法。为了对未来的数字同级用户有用，工程师将需要表示可能发生的未来流程。Kerin说，这可能是UML模型的一部分。
她说，当然，绘制原始零件模型的工程师不能期望知道该产品将如何重塑，但是未来可能的过程可以洞悉资产的可回收部分。
Engine makers, for instance, might prioritize digital siblings for valves over pistons.
“A piston seizure can cause a catastrophic failure and unrecoverable engine; however, a valve seizure is likely to need only a cylinder head replacement making remanufacturing a more realistic proposition,” Kerin says.
Remanufacturers could also refer to a digital sibling to help plant the remanufacturing process, which today remains fairly manual and few decisions are automated. The CAD software used for original design does automate some processes. If an engineer changes the geometry within one part area, the software updates the measurements for other areas accordingly, she adds.
该数字工具还可以用于帮助模拟产品在再制造之前的功能以及其重新制作后的性能。
“Simulate is significant when predicting life expectancy, failure modes, and processing outcomes for remanufacturing,” Kerin says.
不再有粘笔
To see how model data can best be shared within a typical manufacturing process, take the example of Vermeer Corp., which makes industrial and agricultural equipment. The company recently implemented Vertex to help with design review and approval.
Design reviews across departments often required slide decks created from CAD screenshots. Of course, they were not interactive.
The most complete review of design—called the milestone review—happens at the company after a physical prototype is built, says Ethan Roth, project engineers for Vermeer’s hose and harness routing team.
“After the technicians build the prototype, every relevant group in engineering and non-engineering visually reviews it in person,” says Roth. “There was no great way for those groups to provide notes and for engineering to aggregate them.”
Vermeer had come up with a manual solution; team members placed notes on the physical prototype with change suggestions. Of course, the notes resulted in rounds of follow-up emails and procedures and could result in late-stage, expensive design changes, Roth says.
The company has improved collaboration through its move to Vertex, which gives everyone access to full-scale model visualization, he says.
Milestone design reviews can now be done using virtual prototypes because the cloud-based software doesn’t use much computing power when compared to software housed on site. Team members can now leave feedback directly within the model rather than on sticky notes.
Also, the virtual reviews ensure that physical prototypes more closely follow design intent, saving time and cost, Roth says.
Vermeer, like many other manufacturers is taking steps into its digital future. And it’s finding that, by pushing CAD data out to many other departments, it can save significant time and money.
Murray, who owns Vertex, isn’t surprised.
期望你的技术员带个平板电脑和call up a full-scale CAD model of your dishwasher in the future. That can only make repairs easier and faster—and hopefully cheaper for the person who pays the repair bill.
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