Chelsom goes to a third dimension

To offer clients a fully integrated design service, a dedicated technical project team has been created at the Chelsom head office in Lancaster. Through the use of e-drawings, sent electronically to clients worldwide, all parties working on a project have the chance to view designs on screen and make comments and amendments on the actual drawing which is automatically updated, revised and renumbered.

The visual language of the 3D drawings is understood worldwide, giving less chance for misinterpretation and error, notes Bob Neville, operations director. ‘Detailed views can be shown of any area of the fitting and the model can be rotated around 360 degrees in any direction. The use of 3D technology takes out all the guesswork out of viewing complicated design proposals, as the client can see the proposed product in much finer detail. Errors and design modification requirements are caught early rather than after samples have been made.’

The benefits of 3D modelling are vast, he says; ‘the images are more realistic, with the addition of colour, texture and lighting effects; the virtual product can be displayed against a specific background, an in-situ backdrop, or dropped into a 3D model of a building; manufacturing timescales can be drastically reduced as conventional sampling is no longer required.’