Virtual reality can make a huge contribution to the assembly and manufacturing of industrial products. There are direct advantages for manufacturing plants, in terms of saving time, reducing costs and optimizing productivity.
Indeed, in the production process of a material component or, more generally, a product, there is always a phase of assembly and manufacture of the final product (or realization). This last stage is systematically preceded by multiple tests and validation phases linked to the progress of the project, such as the production of a new line of cars, for example. Virtual reality solutions now accelerate and simplify this phase.
The manufacturing processes in Virtual Reality can be structured around 2 user profiles
The VR collaboration and the faculty of putting team in a VR engineering project situation facilitate the realisation of validation tests for the assembly and the product manufacturing steps before the final product. This without limit of try, time or human and financial resources beside the delivery deadline contracted with the client.
The long process of the assembly and materialization of the final product can’t result on a viable solution without test phases and the evaluation of the quality of the components of the product.
During the step of VR manufacturing, in the industrial field for example, different roles are distributed among 2 user profiles to test the robustness, the compliance and the viability of the product according to the expectation of the client.
How roles are distributed in a VR manufacturing process ?
The contribution of virtual reality for the manufacturing engineer:
In a conventional production process, a manufacturing engineer may have to iterate until a satisfying result. He has to find the most reliable sequence to assemble all the tools required on a technical drawing, the constraints of production time, quality, etc.
In a manufacturing process based on a VR solution, the manufacturing engineer will develop assembly routines and primary instructions for operators in the final assembly of the product. A virtual reality solution will enable him to test a model of a gesture sequence with a test operator.
Once the sequences have been validated, the manufacturing engineer can create his own 3D VR sequence to edit a video model and give 3D instructions to the operator.
The contribution of virtual reality for the operator:
All this work must then let its implementation and its application by the operator.
He will interested on the ergonomics of the sequence in terms of accessibility, in relation to the efforts to be made to achieve it, the analysis of potential musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and his own perception of movements that he will have to realize within the virtualized environment.
The operator will also have to evaluate on the basis of this sequence if he has the appropriate tooling to successfully manufacture the final product, in terms of types of tools but also in terms of their dimensions and the virtual environment in which he is brought to evolve. The appreciation of the handling space of the tools and parts to be mounted will therefore be decisive in the performance of the operator’s tasks.
Finally, the operator will focus on both design issues to verify that the product is indeed mountable and the accessibility of sensitive parts of the product, to be handled carefully and that, to optimize the effective assembly of the final product.
Other contribution of virtual reality in the final product manufacturing phase
Reduce non-recurring costs, accelerate design cycles and improve collective work
The fields of applications concerning this final phase of Virtual Reality testing, will be the discovery of the created environment, the analysis of workspaces, ergonomics and accessibility. It will also manipulate the objects and equipment created and validate the overall industrial process related to the final product.
The interest here, thanks to the introduction of virtual reality in the manufacturing process, is to reduce non-recurring costs to the traditional manufacturing process of the product, to allow an acceleration of design and maintenance cycles by a simulated return of experience, but also to shorten decision loops to improve collective work and decision-making.
The introduction of virtual reality in factories already has a very strong impact since it makes it possible to bring together all the actors and partners who at a given moment in their relationship, will intervene on the spot, in this factory.
The use of VR in the production trades, especially in industry, shows a significant advance in virtual reality technologies and a vision of the industry focused more on digital tools.
The simulation of production, flow, tasks, assembly line, parameterization of the ergonomics of a workstation brought by the virtual reality technologies transform the industries into models of factories turned towards the future and digital innovation.
