Schneider Electric leverages Geomagic Design X for efficient tool maintenance

Manufacturing a first-rate product requires first-rate tools. Guided by this principle, Schneider Electric, a specialist in digital automation and energy management, is always on the lookout the best technology to keep tools in mint condition. As part of these efforts, they brought 3D scanning and Geomagic Design X into its Tool Maintenance department. The move resulted in a leap forward in its ability to model replacement parts and ensure rapid tool repair.  

The person who spearheaded the move is Fabien Brunet, the technician ensuring the drawings for cutting and moulding tools are up to date. In his line of work, CAD is the gold standard. “A CAD model provides all the elements,” Brunet says. “It allows us to visualize the part, to see the volumes, flip it, zoom in, change it. It also allows us to see which shape we need to obtain for fabrication. Also, sometimes we just need a 3D model for machining complex shapes.” 

When a 3D scan is available in addition to the CAD, the possibilities are greater. “You could use a CAD model to compare it with the 3D scan to check for deviations or missing shapes,” Brunet adds.

Faster CAD modelling

But taking measurements with conventional tools and creating a CAD is challenging, mainly because of the limitations of the tools, according to Brunet.

A desire to make this process more efficient spurred the company to try 3D scanning. They acquired a scanning device and a license for Geomagic Design X in April 2024. The technology opened new frontiers in maintenance.  

“3D scanning allows us to do things we couldn’t do before because of the complexity of parts. With Geomagic Design X we can create models of parts that were previously difficult to model. Once we got the training, we could model much faster than before,” Brunet says. 

Another significant advantage of Geomagic Design X is the ability to create 3D models that are more faithful to the actual part. “3D scanning saves us time on measuring and Geomagic allows us to reconstruct the part based on the mesh and find its shapes. We rely on the mesh to reconstruct the 3D model that can be exported into CAD software to make the part,” Brunet explains.

3D scanning workflow at Schneider Electric

When creating a CAD model, Brunet starts by gaining a thorough understanding of the project requirements and priorities. He then checks the 2D drawings or the 3D models to understand the function of the part or the assembly, and if it’s a precision part or not. He analyses the part to see if it needs to be partially or completely redesigned and what’s the easiest way to achieve the model of the part.

Next, he scans the part to obtain a point cloud image which will serve as a basis for creating a mesh and CAD. “The point cloud doesn’t have a surface like a mesh or a CAD model, and you don’t really see it. You can use various tools to completely close the mesh and send off that 3D image for 3D printing,” Brunet says.

The Production Means Maintenance team, which oversees machines, can use 3D printing to recreate broken parts for repair purposes. The technology allows them to manufacture parts on the spot and react faster. However, printing a part based on a mesh file is not always the right solution. “We can only do that for components that aren’t precision parts. For the rest we need a CAD model, which we create by processing the mesh in Geomagic Design X,” Brunet explains.

3D scanning technology made a world of difference to Brunet. He describes it as “a huge step forward” and “a real innovation”. The type of hurdles he encounters nowadays are of an entirely different nature. He needs to make sure all the surfaces are scanned correctly to extract as much information as possible about the piece for reverse engineering. Once he has all the data, the software offers the tools necessary to reverse engineer the part.

In a matter of a few months after introducing Design X into their workflow, its impact was clearly noticeable. “Geomagic Design X is very powerful, and we see that everything is possible in terms of the shapes,” Brunet concludes.