The customer thought they had an accurate 2D AutoCAD drawing of their facility and equipment locations. When it came time to find room for a new process and equipment, they thought they knew where it would fit, according to the drawing. Unfortunately, because a couple of building columns hadn’t been located correctly in the drawing, once the equipment arrived and was being installed, it wouldn’t fit. Now what?

Fortunately, this customer had heard about 360° 3D laser scanning and thought this might be a useful tool to help them capture their facility in its as-built conditions. They weren’t exactly sure how it worked, and what the process and cost would be, but it didn’t take long for them to grasp the value of being able to create an accurate layout, with additional features in 3D which further enabled them to identify potential interferences, and aid in space planning.

The scanning was performed in half a day, and the customer engaged in the process, joining the technician on the floor during much of the time. Afterwards, the point cloud was processed and 3D modeling of the building, building columns, equipment, and ductwork began. Once the model was developed, a 2D dimensional drawing was created, then overlaid onto the customer drawing, which made it quickly obvious where the discrepancies and interferences were. This information could be shared digitally with upper management at the corporate location.

Their only other option was to have someone walk down and measure and sketch that plant, (which would take hours upon hours if you can imagine) and then draw it in 2D CAD.

That would cost a substantial amount of manhours and dollars for a plant that size. But that’s what we all used to do back before we had these cool 3D tools.

With this new tool to aid them with their rapid expansion and strategic planning, the customer was able to confidently make decisions. They are currently sharing what they have learned with their other plants scattered across the nation and are expecting to utilize the technology there as well.