Chelmsford, MA -Assembly Guidance Systems, has introduced to the North American market its new D3 fabrication management system, the Laserguide D3.
Reducing discrete hardware, data entry and data integration requirements, the D3 extends Laserguide capabilities by offering fabricators a single point of contact for all fabrication processes. The system has already been adopted by major aerospace and automotive companies to perform and manage laser-guided kitting, layup, ply verification, FOD prevention and correction, and final documentation.
The D3 product name arises from three primary capabilities that are integrated into the Laserguide platform: data collection, defect prevention and correction, and documentation. Data collection features include seamless importation of design data and capture of ply material type, orientation, batch and out time, debulk cycle, and other pertinent information. Critical to most applications, correct fiber orientation also is both verified and documented by the system. Defect prevention is integrated directly into the fabrication process in real time by the Laserguide D3 system. As a result, notes Assembly Guidance President Scott Blake, “The system enables defect correction at the earliest point in the production cycle, so that resolution of the problem occurs at the lowest cost and with the greatest time efficiency possible.” Finally, Laserguide D3 documentation gives fabricators and end users searchable, traceable, controlled and usable information about each individual component, enabling verification that acceptable tolerances have been achieved.
Implementation of the Laserguide D3 system has already occurred in both aerospace and automotive applications. A major aerospace company has chosen Laserguide D3 for program-wide use on a new airliner engine system. Blake notes that the company meets new requirements for documentation with the Laserguide D3 system’s automated data collection and documentation features. In an electric vehicle application, Laserguide D3oversees the fabrication of a structural enclosure. The system enables laser-guided kitting, assembly and documentation of this continuous-fiber component. With the capabilities of Laserguide D3, the enclosure manufacturer anticipates unprecedented accuracy, efficiency and reliability of an automotive continuous-fiber composite component.
Discussions are also under way, Blake notes, with companies that would like to interface quality data in the cloud. “Laserguide D3 has real value in anticipating problems because of the data it provides on a part-by-part basis,” Blake says. “Capturing detailed data at the point of fabrication and providing that data to the end customer enables a more thorough understanding of issues like manufacturability and of lowering the cost of getting things right.”