Niigata Power Systems (1) Displaying Data in both 3D and ... · tures, and sells large products...

(c) 2009. Lattice Technology, Inc.

7Niigata Power Systems (1)

Displaying Data in both 3D and 4D, XVL Adds More than Visual

Effects to Knowledge- Improving Lean Manufacturing Through 3D Data

by Dr Hiroshi Toriya

“The value of 3D data lies in its ability to allow us to see and think about things from various perspectives and directions. By using 3D data, the business process can be changed, and corporate activities become not only visible to manufacturing engineers but also appealing to custom-ers, promoting further innovation in the business process.” - Kazuhiko Fukuoka, Niigata Power Systems

2(c) 2009. Lattice Technology, Inc.

7. Niigata Power Systems (1)

Kazuhiko Fukuoka of the company’s Technical Center, Plant Engineering Group, says that Niigata Power Systems is actively making use of 3D data through its essential value of “allowing us to see and think about things from different perspectives and direc-tions”. Use of 3D information has been extended across the whole company by combin-ing it with the company’s knowledge contained within its technical documents, and by adding 3D animation to plant data for sales presentations. The company added time as a distinct element to its 3D design data so that the data thereby becomes 4D. This is a cutting-edge example of how 3D design data can be applied to areas from manufacturing through to marketing. The company also boasts a sophisticated information infrastructure for using 3D data on a company-wide basis, aiming to minimize burdens on the end user. We asked Fukuoka about the day-to-day uses of 3D data at Niigata Power Systems and this chapter is a summary of his responses.

Reforming the Business Process by Making 3D Available and Visual

As part of the IHI group of companies, Niigata Power Systems develops, manufac-tures, and sells large products such as diesel and gas engines, gas turbines, plant, and so on. The company says that when they first started to apply 3D CAD increasingly into the design process, they encountered serious problems: For instance, the sheer size required for describing the products in 3D was massive, and one entire product assem-bly could not be displayed on the CAD system. To resolve this problem, Niigata Power Systems turned to XVL.

What is XVL? When his colleagues asked for an explanation, Fukuoka simply showed them a massive plant design in 3D, in a Microsoft PowerPoint file. (Figure 7.1 shows an example of 3D design typical of use at the company.) This design, which looks confusing on paper, can be embedded into PowerPoint as 3D data. From here, it can be rotated during a presentation, and any animations played. When Fukuoka’s colleagues saw him effortlessly rotating the 3D data, they immediately saw the potential of XVL. Ac-cording to Fukuoka, the problem was simple. The environment surrounding the 3D data had become too complicated. The original intent of 3D data was to use it to see and think about things freely from various perspectives and directions, thereby inspiring changes in its business processes. If you concur that “visualizing products” often helps change the business process, giving products yet more visual appeal will change the business process even more rapidly.

Evolution of using 3D Data at Niigata Power System3D data use at Niigata Power System evolved as follows; In 2002, the company

installed Pro/ENGINEER as a design tool for its engine products, and gradually started to use it for engineering, piping, and construction design. In 2004, the engineers also started use of Pro/ENGINEER for entire plant design.



Figure 7.1 Examples of 3D models designed at Niigata Power Systems

Next, 3D was used for sales and marketing activities and for technical materials. However, the teams encountered a barrier at this point. The full-size models of large plant were too big, and could not be displayed using the CAD systems. Although they could resolve this problem by making smaller models by hand from the original 3D data, this took too much time and was not a realistic solution. They therefore focused on lightweight 3D in the XVL format.

Figure 7.2 shows an example of how 3D data is applied to plant design. This image shows the 3D model and the actual plant built on-site. The fact that it was possible to display the entire 3D assembly of the actual product before it was built came as a pleas-ant and welcome surprise to employees from other departments. Figure 7.3 shows an example of the entire plant in 3D. Before starting construction, the company uses 3D to demonstrate the plant to the customers for approvals. Since the whole plant is designed in 3D, it is important to be able to show it in 3D.



Figure 7.2. 3D models and the corresponding on-site construction photos

Showing the entire plant is commonly demanded by customers, and really only be-came possible and effective when using the 3D in the lightweight XVL format.

3D Data Use within the Design PhasesIn the past, the designers at Niigata Power Systems would create hand-drawn de-

signs, and detail them using a drafter. Looking at these plans, supervisors would be able to track design progress and determine the technical skills of the designers. Even after 2D CAD started to become popular, designers and engineers would continue outputting the paper drawings for discussion. However, in their gradual use of 3D CAD, they found that they could not see and assess details which they had typically been able to see on paper. The problems they encountered in the use of 3D CAD were specifically as follows:

1. Unless the supervisor was using 3D CAD, he was not able to understand the design’s progress during the planning stage

2. If the 3D CAD engineer said there was no interference of parts, others would have to believe him/her

3. It was difficult to check, whenever needed, if the plant was designed according to specifications

4. Not able to check and track design updates and changes clearly 5. The CAD engineer is focused on enhancing his/her 3D CAD skills, not design

ideas.



Figure 7.3 3D design of the whole plant, showing the current progress of the design in 3D

Furthermore, regardless of if these problems were resolved, the plant data file size is huge and unmanageable, and the whole 3D assembly could not be viewed using conven-tional 3D viewers without high performance, expensive PCs.

The 3 Steps of 3D Data Use at Niigata

In principle, 3D data can be seen and reviewed freely from every direction, something not possible with 2D and paper drawings. However, the company found that most of the CAD designers were focused on the 3D modeling itself, not really looking at the designs. They had also become very used to 3D models, but started to forget the reasons why they evolved to using 3D. So, Niigata Power Systems decided to go back to the roots of its decision to use 3D data, which was to see and think about things from various per-spectives and directions, and apply it to its business activities. As a result of this thinking, the company successfully built an environment where not only designers but other staff were able to freely share and use 3D models in their daily work, expanding the advantag-es of 3D data to downstream processes. To facilitate these efforts, the company adopted XVL applications, which can be used easily by anybody at any stage of design to con-struction. They also came up with the idea of dividing the use of 3D data into three steps;

Step 1—Incorporate a time-axis into the lightweight 3D model so that it becomes 4D dataStep 2—Create “visible” technical materials which can be read dynamically Step 3—Systematically update the “visible” technical materials even during design changes



Step 1—Evolution to 4D models Huge plant model data are difficult to display using 3D CAD. What seemed more

impossible was defining movements and animations to these models. However, XVL ap-plications achieve this; XVL data are able to not only display the enormous data but also animations as well and allows a time element to be added to 3D models, making them ‘4D’ data. This data now realistically visualizes and simulates the assembly process and can be rapidly shared with related departments. At Niigata Power Systems, by integrating and sharing the 3D XVL data, they succeeded in effectively using 3D data at departments that were in no way related to CAD.

Step 2—Creating dynamic technical materials which can be read interactively

Young engineers often learn much from the process of preparing technical materials: For instance, even with such simple tasks as disassembling a cover, the process involves considering the various disassembly methods and processes needed. With XVL those engineers then reproduce these processes as 3D animations for technical materials. Often during this process, the engineers discover new details, issues and facts, and work to resolve them, often with the help of a more experienced engineer, and then the techni-cal materials are shared. Now the knowledge created becomes a “visualized” technical document, which is rapidly conveyed to many others in the operation.

So what is the definition of “visualization”? Toyota is famous for a concept called “An

Don”. “An Don” is a lamp showing a variety of statuses of manufacturing. Whenever a problem occurs or something is wrong on the shop floor, an “An Don” lamp start blinking which is a signal to stop operations work immediately (Figure 7.4). What is important at this point is to allow everyone to see the problem encountered ‘with their own eyes’ which enables them to think of a solution.

Figure 7.4 “Visualization” as learned from Toyota’s An Don concept



The ability to visualize naturally is very important. However, this is difficult to practice on a daily basis in busy workplaces. A successful example, however, is in leveraging it into the existing documents accumulated at the company. Any company has mountains of technical documents containing company know-how and regulations. These are docu-ments containing simple drawings with accompanying notes. At Niigata Power Systems, young designers were told to turn these documents into 3D. Figure 7.5 shows an exam-ple of a conventional document and a new 3D document. Once again, it should be noted that this kind of 3D documentation work also helps pass down knowledge to the younger engineers. These documents also become 3D materials, and can be shared by all inside the company. Consequently, Niigata Power Systems succeeded in killing two birds with one stone by “visualization”.

The company has also “visualized” its check lists. Whenever the company purchases parts from machine manufacturers, order specifications are submitted and to prevent simple mistakes, check lists are used. So they “visualized” these check lists as shown in Figure 7.6. The rotating direction is shown clearly inside the 3D shape. By adding simple animations, instructions on how to check the product can also be shown. Usually people in the field will not read such details when they are only presented on paper.

Step 3—Dealing with design changes So why has 3D data not been used for creating technical materials until recently at

Niigata Power Systems? With 3D data, technical materials with 2D images can be cre-ated easily by cut-and-paste. These technical materials are usually printed on paper and distributed to different departments. However, when design changes were required, the cut-and-paste work needed to be completely redone, otherwise there would be no consis-tency and the technical materials not accurate. The location of the original 3D CAD data is often lost over time, also making it difficult to correct the technical materials.

Figure 7.5 3D Technical documents in Niigata



Figure 7.6. Visual check list for a power generator

To resolve this, Niigata Power Systems implemented the XVL Notebook application because it enables 3D data to be used much more easily. When design changes are re-quired, just by substituting the new XVL file of the edited 3D CAD data, the image data is updated automatically. Accurate technical documents can be maintained only when there is a mechanism to deal with design changes. Figure 7.7 compares the two processes.

Figure 7.7 Process of Creating 3D Technical Documents which can Handle Design Changes



In its daily processes, Niigata Power Systems uses 3D data to obtain customer ap-provals before starting the construction of a plant. As shown in Figure 7.8, these drawings allow the customers to check the piping routes and daily inspection routes from various viewpoints. Using paper drawings, every time design changes are required, the technical documents need to be prepared from the beginning. With XVL Notebook, new drawings and plans are created automatically from the 3D XVL data.

Figure 7.8 Sample of a 3D plant model for customer approval

Figure 7.9 Descriptive estimate specifications and 3D visual specifications



With XVL and the XVL applications, descriptive specifications and visual applications are interactively linked. For instance, in Figure 7.9, the descriptive specifications define (in Japanese in this use-case) “Carry in/installation work (can be installed with crane, no horizontal pulling)”. This means that during the construction of the plant, space is needed to park the crane for the work. Words alone will not be able to convey this information very easily. It is much clearer when images of a crane parked next to the plant are shown in 3D. In the case of underground work, 3D images of burying cables underground are now adequate for construction workers to understand the work process. The intent is even clearer when this is described using a combination of descriptive and visual specifications.

Use of the Free XVL Player

Another large advantage of XVL to Niigata Power Systems is in allowing departments unconnected to CAD and product design to use 3D data. Take, for example, the Shipping department.

Figure 7.10 shows this example. In the Shipping department, the process starts with looking at the 3D data, such as a machine that is to be shipped, being placed on a trailer. Just by looking at the 3D data, the team immediately knows that the machine can be shipped using the smallest trailer available, and they need to design and verify a loading method that will safely load the machine on the smaller trailer. With XVL, this task is eas-ily simulated in XVL Studio just by slightly changing the assembly information. At Niigata Power Systems, a department which has no experience in using 3D CAD is now suc-cessfully enhancing work processes using 3D data.

For 3D data to be effectively used inside the company, it is important for everyone in the company to spend time on “visualization” in their daily work and to discuss and share ideas on using it. There is less success achieved if only selected departments in the com-pany are involved. It is vital for all the departments in the company to perform their work sharing common XVL data.



Figure 7.10 Examples of 3D uses at the company’s Shipment and Delivery Departments

3D Data Becomes More Attractive To Use when it isin XVL

As XVL is not CAD data, it allows any department to add required information and use it freely. This is a great advantage of XVL and it is being put to great use by the Mar-keting department at Niigata Power Systems. The department had been using images generated from 3D data for its product catalogs, but by using XVL, those catalogs now contain 3D animations. For example, XVL reproduces the movements of the piston inside an engine and displays engine ignition by changing color (Figure 7.11). With simple ideas like this, catalogs with a much stronger sales impact are now being created. Such anima-tions are very easy to define by using the XVL Studio key frame animation function.



Figure 7.11 A catalogue item with animation

XVL is able to give movement to an otherwise dull-looking machine, making it more appealing and easy to understand. By embedding XVL into Microsoft PowerPoint, anima-tions can be displayed interactively in the PowerPoint slides. With this tool, the sales rep-resentatives at Niigata Power Systems are now able to “walk” customers inside 3D virtual plants on their notebook PCs and explain the various details, as illustrated in Figure 7.12. For important details, annotations are noted down inside the 3D models to help bring attention to them. This ensures that the sales representatives explain all the important points while walking the customers through and round the virtual plants. After showing the animations embedded within the 3D, the sales people can also move freely inside the 3D plant and show other information to the customer. By using XVL, the sales teams at Niigata Power Systems now use 3D models in their customer negotiations.

Figure 7.12 3D Animation displayed on PowerPointTo view an online animation of this example, please visit: http://www.lattice3d.com/book/img/niigata/niigata_1_book.html



While using these 3D presentations, Niigata Power Systems found that customers also rapidly adapted. For instance, they would tell them that they wanted to use 3D im-ages for their company newsletters and posted announcements introducing XVL into their company. Until XVL, Niigata Power Systems had been outputting 2D images on paper and providing them to their customers as part of their customer service, but recently, more and more customers are asking for the 3D XVL data itself. This is because custom-ers now also want to look at the plants they purchased in their own time, or measure important traffic routes in the planned plant.

XVL software also comes with security functions. Access rights are controlled by password, and data editing can be disabled. In addition, copyright can also be displayed on 3D data and provided to customers. Some XVL programs are also able to automati-cally delete confidential parts such as the core engine designs, etc., allowing data to be easily provided to customers without confidential or proprietary details being included.

XVL Data Acquisition Mechanisms Deliver Up-to-Date Data On-demand

Niigata Power Systems implemented an on-demand conversion system which syn-chronizes CAD data and XVL data, and converts data on the spot whenever it is needed, as opposed to only using a night-time batch conversion system. The company opted for this system to meet time-critical needs such as design review using the latest design data. Using the same system, sales teams can deliver demos to their customers, using the latest data but with all of the confidential details automatically removed. Niigata Pow-er Systems reached the conclusion that, as a result of analyzing user needs, they had to have a mechanism which allowed them to extract the required data into XVL whenever they needed it. XVL applications were used to meet the demands of this automated sys-tem, and as a result, they developed the system shown in Figure 7.13.

First they prepared a web server for XVL conversion. Then they built a system which integrates the following functions;

1. XVL Converter which carries out all CAD-to-XVL conversion (64-bit CAD version)2. XVL Signer which sets security automatically to XVL3. XVL System Toolkit which automatically processes XVL into required output,

such as automatic elimination of confidential data for use by the sales teams.

As a result, users were now able to immediately obtain the required XVL data with the appropriate accuracy, and with security in place. For example, the marketing de-partment needs XVL data with less accuracy than the factory department, giving more importance to animations than accuracy. This new system was thus able to generate and extract XVL data on the web according to the purpose for it at each department. Figure 7.14 shows the actual operations of the system.



Figure 7.13 Web Server for XVL conversion and processing

Figure 7.14 Conversion mechanism from CAD to XVL

Using the on-demand system, users simply specify the purpose of the 3D data, such as using the data for interference checking or for submission to a client. The sys-tem generates appropriate XVL data by setting accuracy and security depending on the purpose specified. With this system, anybody in any department who wants to use 3D data can immediately obtain XVL. A department is able to obtain the data they want



without burdening those in design or at the factory floor and XVL becomes the tool that links this information across departments. With this automated system implemented at Niigata Power Systems, the 3D data created by the design department quickly started to spread to the production sites, very soon linking the design and production departments, and forming an information network which cannot be achieved with CAD systems. To make 3D data use spread within a company, it is important for all staff to understand how convenient it is. In this case, the fact that the plant and marketing department so quickly realized this went a long way to promote and encourage the use of 3D data across the entire company.

Focus on What is Needed, Not What the System Currently Delivers Information such as costs, price, procured goods, etc. are attributes which accompa-

ny manufactured products. XVL enables all at a company to easily access 3D data which, before then, could only be used within design departments. XVL is able to “visualize” the products as well as represent detailed shape information. This is a breakaway from past design methods based on a 2D culture.

However, not all at Niigata Power Systems welcomed this change to 3D data at the company. It was met with resistance and people would hastily give reasons why it should not be used, such as “3D CAD is such a hassle”, “we cannot mix 3D and 2D”, “who is going to prepare the 3D data of existing products?” “there is no benefit in adopting 3D for plants and facilities”, and so on. To break through this endless loop of resistance, the company resorted to the solution of sharing neutral 3D data at a higher level, to promote the use of 3D data at each department. For this, the design department had to prepare the 3D data of plants and facilities. This allowed the production side to define the 3D data to include cost, list and instruction data needed to do their work. Those at the frontline had to be convinced about the convenience of 3D data, but since it was impossible to install costly CAD systems at each department, lightweight XVL proved to be the perfect means for departments to experience it. This also encouraged the staff to come up with ideas on optimum uses of 3D data in their own work, resulting in the formation of a coop-erative network beyond inter-department barriers in the company. Use of XVL as a com-mon data format indeed helped promote collaboration efforts between production, design, and marketing (Figure 7.15). It is not important to debate what XVL can do: - the secret to succeeding in manufacturing process innovation is in first clarifying the goals that should be achieved, and then finding the way to resolve them using 3D data - and that is XVL.



About ‘The Critical Need for Digitalization in Manufacturing’ by Dr Hiroshi Toriya.

This book, one of several published by author, Dr. Hiroshi Toriya, discusses how Japanese manu-facturers are addressing the critical need to continually improve manufacturing processes across the entire enterprise. In the cases highlighted in this book, manufacturers are turning to 3D data practices and processes to enable greater leanness of manufacturing. This book discusses why this is a necessity in the current economic conditions and discusses real world examples through in-depth interviews with manufacturers of all kinds.

Published in Japan in 2008, this book is available as an e-book from Lattice Technology, and is available at www.lattice3d.com

Figure 7.15 Relationship of Visual Information throughout the enterprise

In May 2008, just one year after talking with Fukuoka, Niigata Power Systems set up a booth at the Environment and Energy Fair held in Osaka, Japan, using computer graphics to showcase its gas engine and turbine products. Most of their products are gigantic, and of course cannot be used at events and shows. The company therefore used XVL to demonstrate its products to visitors. They prepared a video of still images and animations of the products, all created using XVL. By applying the effects of “visual-ization,” made possible by using 3D data of the design, the company was able to make its products more appealing and easily understood. This is another clear example of the sales department making use of 3D to explain its products and systems to customers. To actively use 3D data outside the design division, people and organizations must listen to requirements and find the way to support them. For Niigata Power Systems, XVL pro-vided those solutions.

Niigata Power Systems (1) Displaying Data in both 3D and ... · tures, and sells large products...

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