Longview Advisors Publish 'The Advent of Visual Manufacturing'

Prawel identifies the persistent problem seen in almost every large manufacturing enterprise. The gap between engineering and production – both in terms of open communication and compatibility between the different automated systems the department use – creates enormous waste in time and resources. The strategic vision of a data system that spans the entire lifecycle of a product (a.k.a. PLM), Prawel argues, is rarely achieved in actual practice.

Historically, product data management systems have made CAD files the main currency in tracking and exchanges of project workflow. Too often critical data is held captive in regional or divisional 'silos' — inaccessible to typically thousands more people who could benefit from it, he writes. Prawel examines a newly emergent alternative, that of 3D visualization platforms which are easier for production personnel to use than traditional CAD applications. Prawel dubs this new deployment of 3D data in downstream processes as the paradigm of visual manufacturing.

The white paper examines the advantages of this paradigm in addressing the perennial issues of collaboration and interoperability. Prawel explores two business cases of manufacturers who cast a larger net over their processes with the use of lightweight visualization data as the means of communications within production departments and between production and engineering. Prawel sees potential in visual manufacturing to avoid the pitfalls endemic to a solely CAD-based manufacturing enterprise:

Visual Manufacturing supports the complete and comprehensive manufacturing process. All the required data flows freely as needed between and among the people who need it (and who are authorized to see it), enabling fast decision making and standard, more efficient workflow.