As part of the 3DEXPERIENCE Forum Asia Pacific South 2021, we looked at Dassault Systèmes’ solutions inside the Model Factory@SIMTech in Singapore and discovered how digital technologies can empower SMEs to improve their productivity, and become more agile.
Model Factory@SIMTech features an actual production environment that allows companies to learn and experiment with the latest digital technologies. Dassault Systèmes solutions are used in the design and production of a Make-To-Order plastic USB key. Partnering with the research agency, Dassault Systèmes aims to support SMEs in adopting smart manufacturing technologies, as they embark on their digital transformation journeys in this Fourth Industrial Revolution.
We spoke with Dassault Systèmes executives Jerome Retif, Partner Success Manager and Liang Ying Shun, Manufacturing Technical Lead, Asia Pacific South, to find out more about the digital solutions showcased at Model Factory@SIMTech. We posed some of the most common questions from SME business owners, on how these technologies can help them increase productivity, agility and competitiveness in the market.
My customers frequently request for design changes. How can my engineering team manage multiple revisions and customer demands more efficiently?
Customer demands are evolving – they expect faster turnaround while often changing their requirements. That is why team collaboration is so crucial today. A model-based engineering system allows teams to collaboratively work together on a single model, eliminating silos altogether. The 3DEXPERIENCE platform offers a unified database, which means that there is only one single source of truth for all teams to collaborate on. The mold designer for instance, will have access to features such as plastic injection simulations in one single environment, working on one model. You can also leverage on more advanced features such as design automation to help you save more time. To ensure protection of data, you can define which user groups are allowed access to the data, down to the individual level.
How can my production team manage design revisions and multiple variants?
Capturing knowledge is critical if you want to speed up your project or provide customization. You can import data from past projects, such as the type of accessories, configuration, or NC machine codes that you have used for similar products. For design changes, because we are working with a single digital model, information will flow seamlessly from design to production. The production team will receive a notification, and they will be able to easily update based on the new geometry. With a suite of integrated applications to define tool paths, simulate material removal and machine motion, you don’t have to deal with the complexity of using multiple tools and data formats to validate your operations.
How can my team better manage complexity with robots on the manufacturing floor?
With the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, you can carry out robotics programming and simulation with speed and accuracy. You have access to a large catalogue of robots, or you can create your own custom robot. Our robotic programming solutions will allow you to simulate and validate robot tasks, as well as perform offline programming. These capabilities enables you to optimize and increase the productivity of your robot operations.
We intend to buy more robots and machines. How can I evaluate return on investments ahead of time?
With our solution, you will be able to layout and simulate a virtual 3D manufacturing environment, and validate your best option. You won’t have to invest in equipment beforehand in order to realize the outcome. You can simulate your factory floor, including Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs), at the scale of one line or the entire factory. The virtual twin simulation will help you to identify your optimum setup, down to very fine details. You can validate production concepts, reduce cycle times, identify bottlenecks, or better understand your resource utilization, improving all aspects of your robot system.
How can I improve visibility and better manage operations on my shop floor?
To remain competitive today, traditional approaches to managing operations are no longer sufficient. Our Manufacturing Operations Management (MOM) solution integrates all available sources of data onto your tablet, giving you get real-time visibility and management over your entire shop floor. You have key information such as machine statuses, work order progress, resource utilization, metrics such as Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE), and other data needed for monitoring and decision-making. Equipped with real-time information, you can be agile and react quickly to unplanned events and changing customer needs.
We always seem to have quality issues on the shop floor. How can I improve output quality?
Quality management capabilities are natively integrated into our MOM solution. The dashboard gives an overall summary of the products that have gone through functional tests – which ones have passed or failed. Quality inspectors can choose the relevant product, and carry out paperless measurements on this system itself. If there are issues, you can create non-conformance reports to be followed up by the QA manager, to study, analyze and drive improvement from there. Alerts with defect codes can be sorted according to priority levels, so that these issues can be resolved in a timely and systematic manner.
For visual inspections, a digital twin representation of the product can be generated to accurately annotate defects found, so that they can be quickly resolved and used for deeper analysis to drive improvement. Statistical Process Control (SPC) analysis can also be used to track product and process quality. It allows you to track your processes over time, check whether your processes are stable, and identify issues before defects appear on the production line.
With these solutions, SMEs can digitize their entire manufacturing process from design to production, bring manufacturing excellence to the next level, and transition to become factories of the future.
For the fourth time, Dassault Systèmes has been named a Leader in Gartner’s 2021 Magic Quadrant for Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES). Read this blog for more information.
