Entering the 3D Experience Age

Thirty years ago, 3D technology revolutionized the aerospace industry by replacing 2D paper blueprints and breaking the barriers of what was possible in terms of innovation, cost, and time to market. Now, the next evolution is using 3D technology to create 3D experiences.

To understand the promise of creating 3D Experiences, it is important to understand the driving factors. Innovation in technology has historically supported innovation in products and processes. Consider the advent of 3D computer-aided design (CAD) which brought innumerable efficiencies to aerospace design that led to a new ecosystem of computer-based processes. Requires management, manufacturing process planning, computer-aided manufacturing (CAM), crash test simulations, and other solutions were in use throughout an aircraft or other product’s lifecycle. Needed was Product Data Management (PDM) to manage the product data while Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) was born to provide a single platform for companies to manage a product or aircraft from conception, through design and manufacture, to service and disposal.

Widely adopted across several industries, much of PLM’s evolution and creation occurred because of the aerospace industry’s quest for innovation. In particular, Boeing was an early adopter of many of the tools available today in order to build its 777, the first all-digitally designed plane. More recently, the development of the 787 helped push the envelope of innovation further by using pioneering advanced composites design and manufacturing tools.

While Boeing and other aerospace manufacturers have had great innovations, their focus is not on the tools, such as CAD or PLM. Instead, their focus is on creating the best product so that their end customer has the best experience using their products or services. Technology needs to evolve to align with this approach. Companies, particularly aerospace and defense should focus on delivering 3D experiences.

With the expansion of 3D data in all parts of a product’s design, virtual worlds can simulate the development phase and the usage experience. Companies can simulate the engine assembly, engine and aircraft performance, and a customer’s onboard experience. A 3D experience provides a developer or a user immersive and interactive insight into the final product. Today one can experience a virtual product – from conception, design, sourcing, assembly, and the final form – as seen and used by the end customer.

Team members in aerospace and defense organizations – whether they are in marketing, engineering, or the C-suite –- can experience a product and allow their customer the ability to experience the product, all before bringing it to market. For example, a pilot, crewmember, or passenger can experience an aircraft early in the design phase, delivering valuable feedback on the design of the final product. The pilot can experience a line-of-sight, or layout of controls in the cockpit, while commercial passenger can experience the cabin lighting or positioning of their in-seat media screen. Receiving feedback, early in the process instead of after building a physical model or prototype, delivers a great reduction in costs and time to market. The nature of a 3D Experience platform means a manufacturer’s extended enterprise, including employees and suppliers, stay closely connected, allowing all to receive design changes to a product immediately. The manufacturing team can make sure the design is feasible to build, the procurement team can adjust costs, the marketing team can adjust collateral material, and sales can continue its conversation with customers showing the incorporation of their input, as management closely monitors progress.

We live in an experience economy where the focus has shifted away from static information geared more toward a 360° relationship with the customer. We are more focused than ever before on how a customer is experiencing our brand or product versus a competitor’s brand or product. Being able to incorporate 3D Experience software at the earliest stages and throughout a product’s lifecycle creates an unprecedented advantage in this new world.

Dassault Systèmes
Waltham, MA
www.3ds.com