Industrial Engineering Case Studies Collection
Module of Industrial Engineering ONLINE Course Notes.
CLAAS Tractor’s modern facility - Innovative design and manufacturing Using 3D modeling and virtual simulation.
At the CLAAS Tractor’s modern facility, new technology platform enables the company to adopt innovative design and manufacturing methods, including 3D modeling and virtual simulation. It is a long-time user of Dassault Systèmes’ design application CATIA, the company made the decision to adopt Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE® platform and ENOVIA to establish digital continuity among its departments. It selected DELMIA to virtually model its assembly line to improve product quality, boost output, and handle its increasingly complex and diversified product range.
By developing the new model virtually in 3D, designers and engineers could assess the feasibility of the new design and set up the assembly line before production.
Using the 3DEXPERIENCE platform the factory was modeled and everything related to production, such as lifting and clamping tools, could be validated virtually because of that. We have been able to adapt our design to the new equipment installed in the factory. For example, the rear caterpillar tracks of the AXION 900 TERRA TRAC completely change the architecture of the tractor. As the caterpillar tracks are longer than tires, the tanks had to be moved above the tracks, next to the cabin. We have to lift them to fix them to the tractor. Having the new factory digitalized enabled us to make sure it was possible to make it.”
MASTERING COMPLEXITY
CLAAS Tractor produces machines for customers worldwide. At any one time, there can be 20 different models on the same assembly line, and in these models more than 300 options exist. The 3DEXPERIENCE platform was the only way to anticipate the integration of specific options and to plan the process upfront.”
Backed by the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, CLAAS Tractor is now able to consider customizations early in the product development process and account for how they will need to be managed on the assembly line.
“Thanks to the platform, you can view the customized tractor in its final configuration as well as its specific assembly process. It’s very easy.”
Using the simulation capabilities in DELMIA, engineers can determine how each product will be manufactured and flag any issues before they occur.
“The platform allows us to simulate, verify and optimize the different assemblies in relation to various options,” said a methods engineer. “We can then check that each combination won’t be an issue during the assembly process. It also allows us to control that the product is compatible with the process at each workstation.”
The platform allows process engineers to co-design the product with product engineers, anticipate assemblies and improve the process and product quality.”
Close collaboration between process and design is especially important as the product design office is located in VélizyVillacoublay, 200 kilometers away from the Le Mans production plant.
“The platform makes it possible to share data on a single environment and bring together employees from the design office, methods and factory teams that are not located on the same site,” “It has enhanced communication and helped us collaborate on the product-process design.”
The design engineers created the AXION 900 TERRA TRAC and exchanged the 3D model with the process engineering team in Le Mans. The process team was then able to virtually test the assembly of the new tractor on the virtual assembly line and report any issues to the design office. Establishing a continuous digital thread across the entire product lifecycle empowers everyone to carry out their role to the best of their ability and build each machine first-time right.
“Digital continuity is an asset. “It links the product designer and the assembly operator who will use the operating instructions. The platform makes it possible to verify that the design concept can be used by the operator, in compliance with industrial, ergonomic and quality requirements throughout the development cycle of our tractors.”
VIRTUAL TWIN VALIDATION
3D models are now used across all departments at CLAAS Tractor. “The 3DEXPERIENCE platform makes it possible to use 3D at all levels within the company,” “Virtually immersed in their future working environment, operators understand the assembly of the future product and how to use their future equipment. The plant manager can make the right decisions regarding the material and its maintenance. And the customer can view the product they ordered, including all the options, before it’s even produced.”
Having a virtual twin of both its products and the factory is having a particularly positive impact on CLAAS Tractor’s design to manufacturing process, helping to ensure that each component can be produced within the Le Mans factory using existing equipment and will work within the finished tractor.
“We model the different parts of the tractor in 3D like sheet metal, hydraulic pipes and electrical harnesses,” and “We share this 3D model with the factory to make 100% sure the parts can be assembled. In the design office, we use CATIA to create the tractor parts. In product architecture, we especially use the Mechanical System Design feature, which allows us to represent the kinematics of the tractor. It enables us to create mobile parts in 3D and make sure they do not interfere with other parts when the tractor is in action.”
This approach also helps the design team handle changes effectively and rectify errors quickly.
“As an architect, we use the Volume Filters feature a great deal,” Dufourg said. “For example, when an assembly issue or damage is reported, a part must be modified. The Volume Filter highlights the area around the part that is affected. Then the platform provides the bill of materials to make sure we do not forget any options or create interference with nearby parts.”
IMPROVING UNDERSTANDING AND TRAINING
With the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, we can anticipate assembly operations with overviews, and carry out assembly tests even before we receive the parts and without any physical prototype. Operators really appreciate it.”
It’s now far easier for CLAAS Tractor to train its operators and prepare them to work on new models.
“Today, with DELMIA, we are one step ahead,” Dassé said. “I can run through the tractor manufacturing process in detail, and operators can be trained and understand the assembly processes before the tractor physically exists.”
Being able to share virtual models of the new factory and future tractor designs also helped CLAAS Tractor get its workforce onboard with its company-wide digital transformation.
“The AXION 900 TERRA TRAC has been designed to be assembled on the future assembly line, but operators couldn’t imagine the future process,” Dassé said. “As they were able to see the tractor and factory model in 3D, they quickly realized that the new approach would be much clearer and more fluid.”
EXPANDING CAPABILITIES
Based on the success of the implementation, plans are now in place to bring CLAAS Tractor’s new capabilities to other organizations and factories within the wider CLAAS Group. “This is the pilot project for CLAAS Group that will be deployed in other factories involving a product design office,” “For me, this experience made it possible to innovate at CLAAS Tractor, to connect departments around the same data and to anticipate production rather than endure it.”
“To sum up this transformation, I would say that it has been about passion, exciting new tools, openness to new innovative solutions, but above all delivering on our objective to serve the customer with the best products,” Bourasseau concluded.
(To rewrite it again)
Source: https://www.3ds.com/sites/default/files/2020-09/claas-tradtor-case-study-en-web-2020.pdf
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