'3D Publishing & Supply Chain Collaboration' seminar

The VE-Drive project was a £1.28m, two year, collaborative research and development project co-funded by the Technology Strategy board and four project partners from across market sectors and supply chain positions, led by JLR and involving BAES, Holovis and Theorem.

Throughout the project, the consortium partner’s aim had been to generate technology and expertise to connect digital technology across supply chains and deliver key innovation by directly linking digital product development across the supply chain. By applying a new generation of collaboration technology, the project will add value directly at all stages through direct user interaction with graphical and technical information in a digital environment.

The seminar will cover two topics addressing generic engineering needs that were established as a result of the research undertaken during the VE-Drive research project.

The first topic that will be discussed at the seminar, will focus on interactive PDF files and the benefits gained from embedding 3D models directly from native CAD and visualisation applications into an Adobe PDF. Along with any associated meta data, creating a richer document and source of information. A demonstration of the interactive format will be given.

One of the major benefits of an interactive PDF file is that it can be read by any device that has Adobe Reader installed on it, which also means that it can be shared department/company/supply chain wide without the need for special software applications or knowledge to view the information, with the correct permission. The demonstration will show how engineering and manufacturing industries will be able to utilise it.

The second topic will concentrate on supplier interaction. The outcome of the two year government funded research project was the creation of a prototype solution that aimed to address common issues within engineering supply chains. A demonstration of the VE-Drive proof of concept system will be shown together with Theorem’s Publish 3D Document and Visualization products developed as a result of the VE-Drive project.

There will be a Q&A session, giving guests a chance to find out more about the research project and the Theorem software that has been developed as a result.