A project team at Audi AG collaborates with NavVis to digitally capture an automotive factory site in Neckarsulm, Germany for remote production planning.
Living up to their famous slogan of "Vorsprung durch Technik", a team of three at Audi AG has been in close collaboration with NavVis to digitally capture production halls and buildings at their automotive manufacturing site in Neckarsulm, Germany.
Led by project manager Andre Bongartz, the team have completely documented the "as-is" state of several areas of the production facility using the NavVis M6 Indoor Mobile Mapping System (IMMS).
Now empowered with a high-definition virtual replica of these production halls, factory managers and staff can make critical decisions about production without the need to be physically on-site.
"Our digital planning system offers enormous advantages, especially now during the Coronavirus pandemic."
This new digital planning system not only saves Audi employees a great deal of time and money, but also enables planning independent of location.
"Our digital planning system offers enormous advantages, especially now during the Coronavirus pandemic," explains Bongartz.
"Even while in home office, our factory planners are able to take measurements in production halls without being there or even picking up a measuring tape. These measurements are then used to create highly accurate plans of the facilities remotely."
How did Bongartz's team go about creating their digital planning system?
Laser 3D scanning carried out with the NavVis M6 can generate a point cloud that records each room, machine, and production line at the factory.
Simultaneously as it scans, the NavVis M6 also takes high definition 360 degree panoramic images.
Both the point clouds and HD images are bought together in NavVis IndoorViewer to provide a seamless virtual walkthrough of the entire space, accessible from any standard web-browser.
"Even while in home office, our factory planners are able to take measurements in production halls without being there or even picking up a measuring tape."
Looking to the future, according to Audi, all production halls at the Neckarsulm site will now be digitally scanned.
The 3D scan will also be used to implement other applications such as indoor navigation and an Augmented Reality (AR) planning application. Progress through technology, indeed!
Source and image credit: Audi Media Center