Production system redesign using realistic visualisation

The process of redesigning production systems is usually complex, for which virtual design tools are available. These tools are used to analyse and evaluate planned changes prior to implementation, making it possible to identify and prevent costly design mistakes. Despite this, design mistakes arise during and after the implementation. A source for design mistakes is incorrect or insufficient spatial data of the production systems used in the virtual design tools. The aim of this paper is to show how to reduce the time required for planning and implementing the redesign by supporting the process with realistic visualisation, created from accurate spatial data of the real production systems. Three industrial studies were carried out to evaluate how address realistic visualisation in order to support the redesign process. The result shows terrestrial 3D laser scanning to be suitable for capturing spatial data for realistic visualisation of production systems. The realistic visualisation can be used to virtually analyse design alternatives of the production systems, by, for example, combining the 3D laser scan data with 3D CAD models. The realistic visualisation enabling effective and accurate planning, which gives the opportunity to reduce the time required for planning and implementing redesigned production systems