Lattice 3D - Technology Times - Case Study

XVL Offers KVAL Seamless Collaboration

Look closely at your Pella or Georgia Pacific door. More than likely, it was built using woodworking machinery from KVAL Inc., a sixty-year-old company based in Petaluma, Calif.

In 1947, Norwegian-born cabinetmaker A. A. Kvalheim designed and built a panel saw using an ingenious traveling carriage that eventually begat the company's entire product line. From a clever saw, KVAL equipment grew into custom-designed milling machines with 6,000 individual parts. Now the business builds, delivers and installs more than 300 unique machines every year, while maintaining another 10,000 in the field.

Finding common ground

While KVAL had long developed a valuable service with a professional team, a "wall" between the company's departments threatened the efficiency of the process. While the engineers used computer-aided design (CAD) to communicate design implementations, other departments were not inundated with CAD and therefore communicated through red ink and paper. This inefficient process resulted in wasted time and potential inaccuracy.

Lattice3D XVL provides common understanding

Lattice3D's XVL technology now provides KVAL staff with a better way to communicate and understand each department's needs.

From engineers to manufacturing

Previously, engineers sent the manufacturing department print-outs of design implementations, which the manufacturing department modified with red ink to indicate design changes. This process involved several "over the wall" translations and modifications, and was not only inefficient but potentially inaccurate.

With XVL, the manufacturing team receives 3D models in a format they can easily understand. Similarly, the modifications they relay to engineering are in a format that can be easily understood and implemented.

"Conservatively speaking, we saw productivity gains of 20-25 percent in manufacturing," said Sebastien Jame, engineering services director for KVAL.

Technical support better gauges needs

With thousands of machines on the field, technical support plays a key role in keeping customers satisfied with KVAL products. Originally, when a customer would call to order a part, technical support would have to sift through paper drawings to find the correct machine, then determine the part the customer required.

With XVL, technical support can browse 3D models on their computers, view assembly and animated disassembly, and easily target the customer's need and corresponding part.

"Technician learning curves dropped to minutes instead of days and spare part service calls often fell from 15-20 minutes to just seconds," said Jame.

Increased visibility for welders

The Lattice3D ultra-compression technology even speeds up welding, because the welders quickly see how to arrange and weld parts in an efficient sequence. Overall, the design and manufacturing are communicating better and the design workload is less, since there are fewer CAD changes coming in from manufacturing.

Moving ahead

KVAL still wants to identify problems faster and help customers order spare parts directly. "Our goal is to go 100 percent 3D," said Jame. "We want to give our customers, via the KVAL website or an online Webex session, the ability to view and access a 3D model of their unique machine."

Customers who have seen this feature are already very excited. As if these process improvements weren't enough, the company is going one step further. Soon it plans to ship KVAL machines with a portable computer instead of a paper user manual. The computer will be loaded with a Lattice3D viewer and the highly compressed 3D XVL files format. This will let customers see disassembly and assembly animations of their machines and help the field service staff easily understand and work on problems together with customers.

With Lattice3D's XVL, the team at KVAL has seamless communication, offering better efficiency and accuracy while easing frustration.

To view the KVAL case study in its entirety, visit Lattice3D Case Studies.

For more information about how Lattice3D can empower your company with XVL solutions, contact us at 1.415.274.1670 or visit www.lattice3d.com.

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