XVL was the Core Technology used to Move Away from 2D Drawings Toyoda Iron Works Co. Ltd. (TIW) is a tier-one Japanese auto parts supplier. It has manufacturing operations in 13 plants all over the world.
TIW needed to increase productivity and quality. The solution it identified was an initiation that made the 3D model the master and not 2D drawings. The initiative was called the Simultaneous Engineering (SE) and Production Planning Initiative.
Before this initiative, Toyoda Iron Works converted its 3D CAD data to 2D TIFF format to be shared with other departments. Now TIW converts the 3D CAD data to 3D XVL and store it in its PDM system.
Other departments can now retrieve the lightweight 3D XVL data directly from the PDM system and use it to improve their own business processes. TIW is also sharing the XVL data with its own trusted suppliers, enabling more efficient supplier communication.
Using XVL for leveraging 3D data is much easier than using 3D CAD. The main reasons are XVL’s ultralight format that retains CAD-level accuracy and being CAD-agnostic.