A little story in The Wall Street Journal points to big innovations for aerospace manufacturing. Rolls-Royce, which makes airplane engines for Boeing and Airbus jetliners, is using virtual reality to test what the company calls the “world’s most powerful aerospace gearbox.”
Using virtual reality headsets, mechanics can assemble the gearbox in the virtual realm before putting together the parts in reality. Paul Stein, the company’s chief technology officer, says in the article that the technology enables the company to streamline the test and development process by foregoing building and rebuilding prototypes that could be wrong.
“The gearbox for [Rolls-Royce’s] newest engine, which is called UltraFan and will be available in 2025, allows different parts of the engine to move at slightly different speeds and also helps reduce jet engine noise, according to the company,” Sara Castellanos writes.
Stein says the design is very compact, making assembly complicated, “like a jigsaw puzzle.” In the virtual environment, engineers can see if there’s enough space and clearance for all the parts assembled in the correct order. If there isn’t, the engineer sees a warning.
Rolls-Royce employed a team approach for the virtual reality efforts. The company uses a virtual reality Vive headset, made by HTC, and a virtual reality software platform, developed by Virtalis together with Rolls-Royce employees and Rolls-Royce’s University Technology Centre in Germany.
Earlier this month, Rolls-Royce announced that it set a record for the world’s most powerful aerospace gearbox, which had successfully reached 70,000 horsepower during testing at the Rolls-Royce facility in Dahlewitz, Germany. The gearbox is designed to run all the way up to 100,000 horsepower, which Rolls-Royce reports is the equivalent of more than 100 Formula One race cars.
Rolls-Royce also is using virtual reality to better design the flow of manufacturing processes in its factories. “Virtual reality helps ensure that all machines are in the right position and jobs get passed efficiently from machine to machine,” Castellanos writes. Proper layout and function in the virtual world ensures that employees can optimally lay out the factory in the real world.
Using virtual reality
Think about how virtual reality might help improve supply chains within your organization. Take process improvement, which is defined by the APICS Dictionary as, “The activities designed to identify and eliminate causes of poor quality, process variation, and non-value-added activities.” Could moving some of your activities from the real world into the virtual one save time and help further process improvement?
The Wall Street Journal article cites Gartner research that suggests virtual reality technology will become mainstream within two to five years. As supply chain technology evolves, APICS helps you prepare for the future. For example, APICS 2017, which will take place October 15–17 in San Antonio, will feature educational sessions about a variety of emerging trends, including the internet of things, blockchain and the use of autonomous drones. Of course, there also will be sessions reviewing the building blocks of the APICS body of knowledge, including topics such as sales and operations planning, continuous improvement, and forecasting.
Don’t miss out on your chance to connect with the future of supply chain. Visit apics.org/apics2017 for more information or to register.
Using virtual reality headsets, mechanics can assemble the gearbox in the virtual realm before putting together the parts in reality. Paul Stein, the company’s chief technology officer, says in the article that the technology enables the company to streamline the test and development process by foregoing building and rebuilding prototypes that could be wrong.
“The gearbox for [Rolls-Royce’s] newest engine, which is called UltraFan and will be available in 2025, allows different parts of the engine to move at slightly different speeds and also helps reduce jet engine noise, according to the company,” Sara Castellanos writes.
Stein says the design is very compact, making assembly complicated, “like a jigsaw puzzle.” In the virtual environment, engineers can see if there’s enough space and clearance for all the parts assembled in the correct order. If there isn’t, the engineer sees a warning.
Rolls-Royce employed a team approach for the virtual reality efforts. The company uses a virtual reality Vive headset, made by HTC, and a virtual reality software platform, developed by Virtalis together with Rolls-Royce employees and Rolls-Royce’s University Technology Centre in Germany.
Earlier this month, Rolls-Royce announced that it set a record for the world’s most powerful aerospace gearbox, which had successfully reached 70,000 horsepower during testing at the Rolls-Royce facility in Dahlewitz, Germany. The gearbox is designed to run all the way up to 100,000 horsepower, which Rolls-Royce reports is the equivalent of more than 100 Formula One race cars.
Rolls-Royce also is using virtual reality to better design the flow of manufacturing processes in its factories. “Virtual reality helps ensure that all machines are in the right position and jobs get passed efficiently from machine to machine,” Castellanos writes. Proper layout and function in the virtual world ensures that employees can optimally lay out the factory in the real world.
Using virtual reality
Think about how virtual reality might help improve supply chains within your organization. Take process improvement, which is defined by the APICS Dictionary as, “The activities designed to identify and eliminate causes of poor quality, process variation, and non-value-added activities.” Could moving some of your activities from the real world into the virtual one save time and help further process improvement?
The Wall Street Journal article cites Gartner research that suggests virtual reality technology will become mainstream within two to five years. As supply chain technology evolves, APICS helps you prepare for the future. For example, APICS 2017, which will take place October 15–17 in San Antonio, will feature educational sessions about a variety of emerging trends, including the internet of things, blockchain and the use of autonomous drones. Of course, there also will be sessions reviewing the building blocks of the APICS body of knowledge, including topics such as sales and operations planning, continuous improvement, and forecasting.
Don’t miss out on your chance to connect with the future of supply chain. Visit apics.org/apics2017 for more information or to register.
