Virtual process week in the experimental vehicle build at BMW AG

For many years CA technologies have been used in different areas of product development. Now visualisation systems are able to support the assembly planning process. During a so-called “virtual process week” at BMW the current state of the assembly planning is estimated by a group of people responsible for the process. Based on the product structure visualisation scenes are created. By using the group function of the visualisation system parts are shown subsequently according to the assembly plan. The participants use eight criteria to assess the operation. All results are documented online in a database. To assure a good view to all people a large screen projection and two projectors are used in parallel in a daylight environment. Due to the amount of CAD data several workstations have to be used and connected individually to the projectors. In the end, statistical evaluations of the database show where operations have to be clarified in more detail or where the geometry of parts will have to be changed because of bottlenecks during the line operation.