3 USES FOR 3D LASER SCANNING YOU MIGHT NOT HAVE CONSIDERED BEFORE…

3D laser scanning is a useful tool for any Project Manager to have in their arsenal. But very few are aware of the full capabilities of this piece of equipment. As well as creating a highly accurate image of your site, these scans have a huge variety of uses that might benefit your next engineering design project.

Here are 3 uses for 3D laser scanning you might not have considered before…

1. Early doors design staging 

At the beginning of any design project, ensuring that everyone on site, from your fabricators to your shareholders, are on the same page can be a challenge in itself. 

Using a 3D model in the early stages of a build to identify bits of equipment, model new or upgrade existing equipment and sanity check how each piece will fit among the existing set up, is a great way to overcome this challenge.

A lot of organisations don't consider 3D scanning and modelling for this purpose as internal designers know the site and have a vague idea of sizing and layout in their heads and from photographs. Problems arise when it comes to communicating design intent with the design team, fabrications team and construction team who don't have this specialist site knowledge. A 3D model is a great way to get everyone onboard with the project in a way that will also save time in the long run as it will mean less questions will be passed back and forth during the construction phase.

2. Reverse engineering a design project 

We don’t like to think about when things go wrong in our organisations. But the reality of the situation is that it does happen. Equipment does break, it corrodes and comes to the end of its warranty and when this happens, it needs to be replaced. If you don't have the original drawings though, it can feel like a mammoth task to manually reverse engineer each part in question. 

Using a laser scanner to aid in this reverse engineering process is a much faster and more accurate solution that’s often overlooked. Creating a scan of each individual piece or the site as a whole, will help to ensure that;

1. The replacements match design specifications exactly 
2. Fabricators are working to the same specifications
3. Any damages or weaknesses are identified and addressed before fabrication begins
4. Drawings are up to date and on file for use in future design projects or site moves

3. Virtual workshop 

There’s currently a lot of excitement around the idea of ‘digital twinning’ within the engineering sector. But being able to create a digital representation of a piece of equipment, system or site and aligning this with your document control processes has been achievable with 3D laser scanning technology for a good few years now. 

By using your scan images to create a virtual shop floor, you can then link all your files and data to each piece of equipment and its position on site. This can include information like when it was installed, how much it cost, who the manufacturer was, the date it was commissioned, the equipment's last service log and any pipework or add ons that might be tied into it. I’ve previously written about why good document control is so important, but having all of this information in a virtual 3D database helps to avoid confusion, prevents information from getting lost and makes sure that everyone has access to the same and most up to date drawings and documentation.

If you hadn’t considered any of these options before but are interested in finding out how 3D laser scanning could help in your organisation, get in touch with us today. We’d be happy to answer any questions you have and even offer a free laser scanning demo if you're interested in seeing the scanner in action.