How can you design parts for automotive aftermarket without access to CAD files?

Applications: Product Development and Design, Reverse Engineering
Industries: Automotive/Transportation

Challenge: Countless car brands and models and no CAD file

automative aftermarket 3d measurement part

Designing parts for the automotive aftermarket can be a challenge because of the multitude of car brands and models in circulation. Further complicating the situation, new models are launched each year. Thus, how can a part, such as an interior carpet, be designed to fit every type of car, model, and year available on the market? How can these parts be designed effectively when the CAD files for the car interior are rarely accessible? How can parts be designed successfully when measurements are taken on complex geometries and, therefore, traditional manual methods of measurement are too restrictive and do not lead to precise data?

Solution: Using portable 3D scanning technology to generate highly detailed CAD files

The solution for designing custom-made parts for each car model is a portable 3D scanner. The 3D scanning tool requires minimum setup, and it can be used to scan the inside of a vehicle quickly and directly at the car dealer. Moreover, it enables the automotive aftermarket part designer to design an accessory for any model, year, and brand of car. Finally, it enables the company to offer a complete catalog to its customers and to be at the forefront of the market with new accessories available as soon as a new car model is released.

Benefit: Faster, easier, and more efficient product development

With a portable 3D scanner, scan-to-CAD becomes a breeze, enabling product development to be faster, easier, and more efficient. It is faster because the product development is done correctly the first time. It is easier because the plug-and-play tool generates automatic STL surfaces and outputs mesh files directly. Finally, it is more efficient because the cost of product development is optimized and cheaper than traditional manual methods. Moreover, the design quality is superior because the scanning tool measures all the surfaces with more than half a million points per second for obtaining better product specifications and properties. Finally, the user who opted for a portable 3D scanner as a design tool was the first supplier to make such an offer to his customers, giving him a competitive advantage on the market.