Major Airline Manufacturer Enhances Manufacturing Efficiency and Technician Confidence with HOOPS Exchange and HOOPS Visualize
Major Airline Manufacturer & Tech Soft 3D
Tech Soft 3D recently spoke with a major airline manufacturer partner of ours, who asked to remain anonymous. In their role as a global leader in aerospace innovation and manufacturing, the company sets high standards regarding precision and efficiency.
“With the right support systems, our technicians can solve problems on the spot and keep production moving. HOOPS toolkits helped make these systems possible.”
— A Manufacturing Technician Team Lead
On one of their assembly floors, their teams had long relied on paper-based installation instructions, a system that was increasingly inefficient and prone to errors. Their team ultimately used HOOPS toolkits to develop a digital process that provided the clarity, consistency, and speed the company demands.
Airline Manufacturer Leverages HOOPS Toolkits to Build a Customized Digital Workflow System
The team created and introduced a digital workflow system powered by HOOPS Exchange and HOOPS Visualize for Web. These technologies allow them to bring complex 3D assembly data directly to the manufacturing floor and integrate it into a browser-based interface accessible to all technicians.
Tech Soft 3D’s toolkits allowed a team of 5 developers to create a system that fundamentally improved the manufacturing process, while laying the groundwork for additional improvements in the future. By leveraging software development toolkits (SDKs), the airline manufacturer was able to use a relatively small development team to create a significant impact on their manufacturing process.
The developers could focus on tailoring the system to their unique needs instead of spending time creating the core data access and visualization features the toolkits provide.
The flexibility of HOOPS toolkits allows teams to either leverage pre-existing components or create brand new ones and extract them for use in other applications.
While this digital workflow system is designed to serve the wire harness installation stage of the manufacturing process, it serves as a development foundation that could easily be expanded to other manufacturing areas should the company need it.
HOOPS Exchange provided this manufacturer with powerful, broad CAD data access features, including the excellent support for CATIA they needed, without requiring a standalone CATIA license. HOOPS Visualize brought significant improvements over in-house graphics systems, while supporting massive assembly streaming directly into browsers. The toolkits support a tight integration between the two, enabling the smoother workflows the company was looking for. Tech Soft 3D was able to provide these toolkits and their professional experience from a single, experienced vendor.
Through the digital workflow system created for them, the manufacturing team was able to receive dynamic, interactive instructions, complete with embedded 3D models to guide their processes step-by-step. The information was easy to access, with real-time model updates. When problems arose, the troubleshooting guidance built directly into the workflow was able to reduce delays.
Real Impact on the Manufacturing Floor
Through the implementation of their digital system developed by the team using HOOPS toolkits, The team leader and their team saw over a 30% increase in performance, hitting productivity levels that were previously impossible.
As with any manufacturing process, technicians will encounter issues. The team lead shared an example of one technician who encountered a split wire during an installation, with the technician lacking the information to proceed. Previously, when using printouts from PDFs, this issue has caused hours-long delays or an incomplete job.
Instead, the new digital system gives technicians the information they needed to get back on track immediately. The result was reduced downtime and better confidence in real-time problem solving, resulting in completing the day’s installation goals despite the setback.
The airline manufacturer’s HOOPS-powered digital workflow system also improved team collaboration. Shared, real-time visibility meant leadership could track progress, anticipate problems, and provide guidance more effectively. These productivity gains were made possible by a small, internal development team, skillfully leveraging toolkits to greatly improve the efficiency of the wire harness installation stage of the manufacturing process.
The Benefits of Licensing SDKs from Tech Soft 3D
A significant benefit for this airline manufacturer was being able to get both CAD data access and powerful visualization functionality from a single toolkit provider. The previously mentioned integrations allow for seamless flow between data access and visualization. Licensing this range of features from a single vendor allows for a more cohesive support experience, all while simplifying billing and collaboration as well.
Airline Manufacturer & Tech Soft 3D: Fast Facts
Industry:
Airline Manufacturing
The Challenge:
Move from static, paper-based instructions to a dynamic, interactive workflow
Reduce downtime and errors with a small team
Maintain real-time visibility across the manufacturing floor
The Solution:
HOOPS Exchange for seamless 3D model integration
HOOPS Visualize for interactive, browser-based instructions
Enables faster, more accurate, and more confident installation processes
The Results:
Fully digital workflow adopted by the entire team
Significant increase in daily job completion
Reduced downtime and higher technician confidence
Improved leadership oversight and collaboration
