MANILA, Philippines — As the manufacturing industry continues to flourish, 3D solutions provider Autodesk Inc. showcased how design technology goes beyond the aesthetic development of a manufactured product and raises the level of efficiency, collaboration, and democratization in the manufacturing industry.
In an interview with InterAksyon.com, Chris Lee, industry manager for the manufacturing industry Autodesk, ASEAN region, explained that manufacturing industry players should take advantage of the existing design solutions in order to boost and even expand their respective businesses.
According to Lee, the concept of digital prototyping is revolutionizing the process within the manufacturing industry. Aside from the ability to visualize and effectively simulate the product before it’s manufactured – which in itself renders savings for the manufacturer – it also empowers industry players with a heightened sense of collaboration and efficiency in the workflow.
“What Autodesk has done, through our digital prototyping concept, we have bridged the gap between design, simulation, manufacturing, visualization,” Lee said. “There is no point if you create a good product but you can’t sell it. So the moment your team comes back with the customer response, the marketing team already has access to that information and can start creating collaterals.”
Via Autodesk’s solutions for digital prototyping, various players within the manufacturing workflow can design the product, receive inputs, revise the design and get it ready for the market in less time, and in turn, less cost.
As a complementary tool for Autodesk’s workflow-based solutions, Lee also showcased how the cloud spells a huge advantage for today’s professionals in the industry. “The manufacturing process is now more globalized,” says Lee.
“Information is no longer constrained by location or by territory,” the Autodesk executive added. “You can design on the desktop.”
According to Lee, Autodesk, through its own cloud portal Autodesk Cloud 360, designers and manufacturers can leverage on a platform where they can work together wherever they may be.
Environment friendly
Furthermore, Autodesk moves forward along with the growing sensibilities on environmental sustainability, especially in the manufacturing sphere.
Lee explained that the solutions being offered by the company allows manufacturers to see how environment-friendly the product will be — even a prototype is even manufactured.
“Autodesk has enabled Eco-indicator in our technology,” Lee said. “With this we can track the number of materials in the product that are eco-friendly. When you design a product, you get to know how much or what percentage of a product is recyclable. And when you manufacture that product, you already have the report ready.”
What’s also notable is the growing popularity and accessibility of 3D printing.
Lee pointed out that 3D printing is effectively democratizing the manufacturing industry and expanding the manufacturing capability from the factories to the home.
“Autodesk plays a critical role in democratizing 3D software and allow everyone to be able to do 3D printing,” he emphasizes.
Autodesk offers free consumer applications to enable anyone – even those with no previous technical training – to start developing and designing their own items or products, which they can easily print via a 3D printer.
Lee also shared how this can be helpful in the Philippines.
“It is interesting how manufacturing in the Philippines has grown so drastically,” Lee said.
And with this, local industry players should see this time as an opportune moment to leverage on design solutions to further boost their respective businesses.
source: interaksyon.com
