Facilities Design

Good ways to leverage “standard” assets

The assets that come with the Factory Design Suite are, for the most part, generic. We can see that there are several categories of standard offerings, but they probably don't exactly fit the bill for most customers. Believe it or not, this is actually by design. If Autodesk went into the asset creation business, they'd have a never ending task on their hands – and probably a lot of grumpy customers.

The truth is, Autodesk knows its users are smart folks, and can make pretty much whatever they need. What is provided is a little head start. Let's talk about how we can get more out of these.

The idea is – copy the standard one from the standard library to your user library, and then modify it to suit your needs. Here's the process…..

Open Inventor. Select Create a New Project. I'm naming mine My Company Assets, you can call yours whatever you'd like…. The corresponding subdirectory will be created for you automatically. This makes it a lot easier to find your stuff later on if you need to.

Now we need to find a starter asset to get me started on the one you want to create. In our case, we are going to create some ACME (Gotta love Road Runner, Meep Meep…..) belt conveyors in some standard sizes that our company uses. Open Inventor, start a new blank layout.

In the asset browser, type in belt conveyor in the search field as shown below….

Select the straight belt conveyor. Right click on it and select explore.

You will see two sub directories – Metric and Imperial – we'll select Imperial in our case; select the Conveyor.ipt file and right click / open.

Select Save As, give it a name, and a copy will be saved in the working directory for you. Close this one, select open – and the file you created will be there – open it.

We can now change this asset into whatever suits us. For example, my company's conveyors are orange, not blue. I change the rail color to suit. I also have standard widths that we use. Let's go to the asset builder to take care of that.

Select Asset Builder. You will see the key parameters box open; the one we care about is width.

Select Asset Variants. Select the Width parameter, populate the right column – a column is added and you can now create some variants – I want a 16" wide, a 24" wide, and a 28" wide.

Close the command, and publish. You now have:

Orange conveyors in standard widths (you can right click them and change the variant on the fly in Inventor) – AND….

You can now insert conveyors in AutoCAD FDS – and change their widths the same way.

The end result – a more flexible, more useable, asset that looks how I want it to…

Enjoy!!

 

 

Smarter ways to work in FDS

The whole idea of using a tool like Factory Design Suite is to allow a parallel workflow – that is, we don't have to do this step before we do that one – we can have several people working on the system or factory design in parallel, thus compressing the lead time on a project. If you leverage assets, you can get a very good jump on a project and eliminate a lot of tedious re-work which, as we all know, is a huge waste of time that we can't afford in today's landscape. I'll offer some tips and some workflows here that can get you going quickly.

TIP #1 – KEEP IT SIMPLE

For proposal work, many times we do not even know what some of the equipment is going to look like – we just have some overall dimensions and some ideas of where components in some systems that are to be designed are to be arranged. None of these are cast in stone of course – but reserving space for what you do know can save a ton of headaches later.

The goal here is to get something that represents the overall shape of what is to be there – but with minimal detail. If you do this right, you can leverage things like Inventor's Levels of Detail to switch the level of detail of the layout. This can dramatically enhance performance of layouts as they become larger.

An example – I am laying out a new machining line. I have some of the pieces of equipment already modeled (maybe from another project or from my library) but there are some new pieces that will be designed by a machine supplier. In this case, the new machine is to be a leak test station for machined castings.

The overall dimensions are given to me – so I make a very simple representation of the leak test cell and publish this to my library. Its 3D and 2D reps are shown below.

I place these into my rough layout. This acts as a "keep out zone" for others designing in this cell. I can now share my proposal with the stakeholders in the project – and we can proceed.

At this point in the design, in Inventor – we create a Level of Detail called "Simplified" and save the document.

As the design progresses, we receive an assembly from the supplier representing the more finished state of the leak test cell. Utilizing Insert Model from the Factory Ribbon, we place the new completed cell assembly into the layout, in proximity to the simplified one.

In the browser, copy the existing Level of Detail. Rename it to "Detailed". Suppress the simplified (asset) version of the leak test cell.

Save the layout with the level of detail set to "Detailed".

With these Level of Detail states saved within the layout, you can switch between detailed and simplified by simply selecting the LOD in the browser. When you sync the AutoCAD drawing, the corresponding LOD will be reflected there too!!!

The first thought that most would have…. "Wait a minute – I loaded both representations into the layout – won't that make it bigger and perform poorly?" The answer is NO!!! Levels of detail demand load what they need – so if the user sets the level of detail to simplified (which can be selected on open of file via options in the open dialog – see below) the layout will open extremely fast and be very quick to work with – because this level of detail contains only the simplified, lighter weight assets.

This also allows the supplier to make changes to the detailed file – and the user can see these changes upon update – they can also make changes and feed these back to the supplier if this is the desired workflow.

This is basically leveraging Inventor functionality to make our life easier in Factory.

Enjoy!!

 

Imaginit hosting BIG I.D.E.A.S event about Factory Design

Hey everybody,

Imaginit is hosting a web based event that is centered around Factory and Facilities design. This is a great place to find out about trends in the industry and pick up some overall knowledge and some tips regarding use of Autodesk solutions to help solve problems in the software (where it's cheap to solve them) vs. on the floor at installation time (which is NOT CHEAP!!!)

Event Landing page:  http://imaginitbigideas.com

IMAGINiT Blog on event:  http://blogs.rand.com/manufacturing/2012/06/the-next-big-ideas-event-is-coming-soon-give-your-factory-a-digital-makeoverr.html

Register at: https://vts.inxpo.com/scripts/Server.nxp

Event Twitter:   #imaginitbigideas.com

I'll be speaking as the keynote – hope to see you there!!!!

The basics of making a robot work in FactoryMODZ

 

To get a robot to work, you have to add a few items from the library that will tell the robot to react, or more appropriately, how and when to react. In the robot's Factory Properties,

You will see some parameters as shown in the figure below.

Note that you have to type the parameter values in EXACTLY as they appear as part names in the Inventor browser, or it won't work.

Once these are identified, you can tweak the behavior of the robot. That's the other set of parameters as shown below. Each "Mate" that is shown represents an axis on the robot.

See the figure below.

To see this in action, go HERE….

Enjoy!!!!

Call for ideas on new FDS assets….

Hello everyone,

We are off and running on the next new release of Factory Design Suites…. As always, we want to add more assets and are always looking for ideas to make them more useful. That being said, the development team for Factory Design Suite is looking for ideas on new assets. We are looking for input from users as to what should be part of our standard offering.

So, tell me what you need!!! You can either comment here or on the FDS Forum – and remember, those who speak up get what they want!!!! If you don't ask – well, you can't give us a hard time for not supplying them!!!

We'd like to build industry specific assets, including, (but of course not limited to)

• Automotive and Transportation Manufacturing
• Electronics Manufacturing
• Food and Beverage Manufacturing
• Packaging Industry
• Materials Processing Industry
• Expanded material handling
• Shipbuilding Industry
• Suggest some!!!

Of course, we are more than willing to add to the categories that we already have – tell us what's missing!!!

Also remember, the goal here is to build generic assets that users can easily customize into their own more specific assets.

Please comment!!!

Tip of the week - 05-14-2012

 Some tips and tricks to make 2D assets suit your needs….

The asset authoring environment from Inventor is a powerful tool for creating stations and assets. One of its strengths is the ability to create 2D version of assets that can be leveraged in the AutoCAD environment for early conceptual design of layouts; and these 2D assets sync for population of Inventor assets in the 3D environment. There are however a few shortcomings of the authoring environment in the current release of Factory Design Suite. These include:

Everything comes out on one layer.

Everything comes out in one color (white)

No text goes out.

The views are too detailed – why are ALL the rollers on my conveyors? I don't need to see those!!!

The goal of this post is to highlight a few workflows that will allow you to make user assets in 2D more what an AutoCAD user would want.

Here is the workflow.

1. Publish your asset.
2. Go to AutoCAD – find the asset in the asset browser.
3. Right click on it and select explore.
4. Open the folder called 2D.
5. Your asset is there.
6. Right click on the file, and choose open with…. Select AutoCAD. (don't just open – FDS may default to Inventor opening the DWG and you don't want that)
7. Double click on the block, and the block editor is entered.
8. Once in this environment. You can do many things….
   • You can assign the objects to a layer. (or objects on different layers for that matter.) The layers will populate the AutoCAD layout with the asset layers or be put on the correct layer if they are already there.
   • You can have them appear as color by layer.
   • You can change colors of the entities.
   • You can erase or add geometry.
   • You could replace the entire drawing view with something else. (this one takes some experimentation and practice – be aware of where 0,0,0 is when you start!!!)
   • You can add hatch.
   • You can add text.
9. You can do this with asset variants – but it is a manual process and it requires a bit of patience – you have to open and edit each block instance.
10. There are a few things you can't do….
    1. Viewable Attributes are supported, but….. There is a little issue with them that I have reported and will be fixed. When you place the asset from the library– to see the asset – you have to select SYNCHRONIZE in the attributes panel and then select the asset. Otherwise, AutoCAD will tell you there are no editable attributes in the block.
    2. It works with user assets only. Not allowed on system assets.

 Close the block editor environment. Save the changes.

You now have assets that when placed, go to the right layers, are the right colors, and are correct when they are sync'd from Inventor.

You get assets that place like this…. And populate like this when sync'd from Inventor….

Hopefully, a future release will automagically do this when we publish or place assets; until then, this will get you there.

 Enjoy!!

Tip of the week – 05 – 02 - 2012

Using mesh geometry as assets in Factory Design Suite

Inventor 2013 now supports the use of mesh geometry. This includes Catia CGR data, Siemens .JT data, and AutoCAD polymeshes. COOL!

But, there is a downside – since these are mesh objects, Inventor can't create drawing views of them, because simply there is no geometry to create it from. This means that you can't generate a 2D view automatically for the Asset Library to be used in AutoCAD layouts.

Well, that's no good…

But, there is a way around this. We can manually create a sketch of the plan view, and have that be our 2D representation.

Here's the workflow….

1. Import the geometry using Import Asset

1. In the case we have here, the plane that represents the application's XY plane, is not correctly oriented for a landing surface. We'll add a work plane.

1. We create a new sketch on this work plane. TIP – in the browser, do a slow double click and rename the sketch to something that makes more sense than "Sketch 1".
2. Go to a top view orientation. Use the mesh geometry as a guideline to trace out the plan view.

1. Select Landing Surface command, and select the work plane that you created. (Check the orientation of the plane using preview)

1. Select Publish. Choose where you want the file to reside – select the 2D tab and check PUBLISH SKETCH – select the sketch that represents your plan view.

Finish the asset builder.

Now, open AutoCAD and refresh your asset library. Your 2D version of the asset should be there, ready to be placed.

This 3D thing – Why do I need this for facilities design - continued

Those that work in 2D currently have heard this 3D drumbeat before – again, not a new concept. Many have kicked the tires of 3D, some have tried it and failed miserably, and some have embraced 3D and are reaping the benefits of it. Furthermore, 2D DOES work very well in some areas – like initial layout. It just does not have the legs to go through the entire design process in today's design world. The key is to be able to use the right tool where appropriate in the process.

If the benefits of 3D are so obvious, why are there still so many people working in 2D? There are a lot of reasons – I'll cover a few here….

• "It is too hard to move my process to 3D."

  It's time to take a second and get a look at what's going on in the CAD industry today. Tools like Autodesk's Factory Design Suite are making it very easy to get designs into the 3^rd dimension. There are many workflows to get your valuable 2D design data into a 3D format easily. It is not a wave of a magic wand per se, but it is pretty easy for anyone who has some CAD skills. FDS accepts formats from most (if not all) CAD formats to create assets. FDS has large libraries of generic factory content that you can customize to suit your needs. It supports working in 2D where it makes sense (like rough line layout) and 3D for the detail work – the stuff that will kill you at a late state of a project. Think about this for a second… where do you spend the most time?

1. Creating the new design or
2. Massaging the design in process?

I'm betting most of you (if not all of you) answered b. Once the initial design is figured out, iteration of the design continues throughout. Almost every design change requires change of drawings. In 2D, this is a manual process. In 3D, models change and the drawings and documents update automatically. This allows rapid turnaround of design iterations, allowing the entire process to move along at an accelerated pace. While the 2D design house is still struggling with last week's changes, the 3D guys are 15 design iterations ahead… with better designs. I'm not saying that there is not some pain in converting over – there is. But the gains in this area alone make this worth the pain.

• "We have built automated processes around tools like AutoCAD and are productive, at least when the designs are fairly "cookie cutter" in nature – and we've been supplying designs in 2D to our customer forever."

  Unfortunately, in today's brave new world of manufacturing, "cookie cutter" is no longer the design norm. Manufacturing schemas such as Lean and Agile drive the need for more flexibility in a manufacturing line. Furthermore, new processes need to interface with existing ones in many places. Trying to get all of this to fit together in 2D is difficult to say the least – let alone get it right. It is also very difficult to sell what you are proposing to the customer. Those looking at buying do not see design intent in 2D documentation. Those that design in 2D are losing business to those that design in 3D for that reason alone. Their 3D-centric competitors are winning the business away because the customer can better visualize what he is going to be buying - because it is very easy for them to provide a 3D mockup – either static or animated.

  It is becoming more prevalent that the customer, (in this case the OEM), is also now demanding that the design be supplied in 3D. They also demand more documentation for installation and maintenance. Many demand the 3D models too so that they may use them for other purposes like ergonomic studies. Since many building designers are providing designs in 3D now, the building, which in many cases is a big part of the process line design, is readily available.

• "2D is good enough."

  Yeah…. For some parts of the process, it is good enough. 2D is great for initial layout and space planning – and for time and distance studies. But saying that 2D is good enough for the entire process in today's world is like saying "a 16 ounce claw hammer is good enough for building houses." Keep thinking that – when the other guy is using a pneumatic framing nailer to frame his houses up. What was good before is not going to cut it in the near future.

The tools are available and the time is now, folks. Jump on the bus, or get run over by it… it is your choice!!!

 

 

This 3D thing – why do I need this for Facilities Design?

Since people started manufacturing products, there has been a need to plan out how they would manufacture them. As we all know, there are a lot of considerations that go into planning.

• How many of these things am I going to make?
• How fast do I need to deliver them to market?
• How much of my facility space is going to be taken up to produce these things?
• Do I have enough space in my current facility to accommodate it?
• How do I get raw materials in?
• How do I get the products out?
• How many people will be required to produce it?
• Do I have everything in my facility that I need to support producing these things?
• Do I need a bigger facility?
• Do I have equipment currently that can process what I want to make?
• Do I have to retrofit that equipment to accomplish it?
• Do I need to buy new equipment?

In the modern day, there is even more to think about. The marketplace is vastly more competitive, global, and the safety of those producing the products is a large consideration. (OK, not in every country…. but most.)

• How much energy will be required to produce it?
• Does the process output environmentally unfriendly byproducts? If so, how do I deal with those?
• Can I reproduce the manufacturing process in another plant? In another country?
• Which suppliers can get me new equipment the quickest? With the highest quality?
• What is the most efficient way to run this through my facility?
• How can I keep low in-process inventories to create it?
• Is the manufacturing process ergonomically compliant?
• Will it meet OSHA (or any other local safety) requirements?
• What skill level of people will I need to produce it?
• How can I integrate equipment and systems designed by other different companies?
• How can I minimize installation costs and errors?

It goes on and on…. But, all of these considerations boil down to one important thing…. COST.

One cannot afford to make mistakes in getting a facility up and running. In years past, there was room for a margin for error – with the cutthroat nature of business today, this luxury no longer exists. Whoever gets the high quality product to market first wins. Tight profit margins dictate aggressive buying and sourcing. In order to meet this demand, OEMs and manufacturers rely heavily on suppliers – and expect the lowest price, highest quality and NO PROBLEMS at installation. Deadlines simply cannot be missed to get the plant or process online. The days of these manufacturers paying for overages due to design errors are GONE. Loyalty to suppliers that they have done business with for many years is also GONE.

For those supplying equipment for these processes, there is even less tolerance – and those they are supplying to demand a lot more. Global competition for work makes for outrageous competition. A large installation blunder can bankrupt a smaller company. The need to get it right from the start is imperative. Accountability is the name of the game.

I'm not stating anything here that most folks in manufacturing don't already know. No revelation here.

The question is – what can I do in my process that will give benefit to most of the laundry list above? There is no "silver bullet" as we all know – but designing in and communicating in 3D can fulfill many of these needs and greatly enhance the process.

Those that work in 2D currently have heard this before – again, not a new concept. Many have kicked the tires of 3D, some have tried it and failed miserably, and some have embraced 3D and are reaping the benefits of it. Furthermore, 2D DOES work very well in some areas – like initial layout. It just does not have the legs to go through the entire design process in today's design world. The key is to be able to use the right tool where appropriate in the process.

We'll continue on this subject in my next post....

Welcome!

This blog is dedicated to what happens after the product is designed – the manufacturing process and the facilities that make it. I'll post what I find regarding industry trends, tips and tricks in using Autodesk Factory Design Suite, and whatever else I come across that I feel you may find interesting. Stay tuned…. Lots to follow!!!