Case Study Physical Digital Ltd

Physical Digital Ltd Brings About Physical Digital Reverse Engineering In House • Helps businesses improve with SpaceClaim quality, prototype accurately, and move to production with As an R&D engineer with McLaren Group, lower costs Tim Rapley was an integral part of the team that introduced high-quality, non-contact • Provides 3D scanning and 3D scanning to the motorsport organization. reverse engineering clients in His success in implementing the technology industries including Aerospace, had him working extensively with suppliers, Computer Gaming, Motorsports, Physical Digital that was both straight- and Pharmaceutical ultimately spending more time on the road forward and large enough that Lainchbury than at home. took the leap, purchased SpaceClaim, and • Founded in 2005 as the only began working with it. independent service bureau in After several years, he determined there the UK offering highly accurate was a significant opportunity to do the same “The ability to play around for a couple 3D scanning kind of work as a service bureau. In 2005, of hours and then start to do the work, as Goals he purchased his own scanning system – opposed to having to train for a few weeks • Expand a thriving 3D the only one employed by an independent to learn the , was a huge benefit,” scanning business into reverse bureau in the UK – and opened Physical says Lainchbury. “SpaceClaim paid for itself engineering and capture Digital Ltd in his home county of Surrey. literally overnight. It was incredible, really.” Soon, he was serving clients in nearly every downstream revenue manufacturing industry, with clients across • Find software that does not the UK and beyond. From Promising Beginnings require extensive training to a Line of Business • Realize a rapid return on investment Capturing Reverse Physical Digital is still the only service bureau Engineering Revenue offering the high-end 3D scanning sought Results out by its customers, providing a steady • Physical Digital began work on As the company grew, Rapley and Daniel stream of demand for reverse engineering, the first project hours after its Lainchbury, Senior Applications Engineer which has become 40 percent of the first interaction with SpaceClaim for Physical Digital, found that a large company’s business. By providing reverse percentage of the company’s client requests engineering in house, Physical Digital is able • The purchase price of included reverse engineering in addition to to reduce clients’ costs, prototyping errors, SpaceClaim was recouped providing the scanned data. The company and time to market. with the first job, on its first had been sending that work out to third day in use parties, and it had an opportunity to bring Today, Physical Digital provides clients • Reverse engineering is now reverse engineering in house if they found with reverse engineered components and 40 percent of the company’s the right tools. Rapley had worked in assemblies for analysis and remanufacture. revenue, two years after CATIA™ and Lainchbury had experience The company specializes in fast replications adopting SpaceClaim ® with SolidWorks , but they considered those of products for a range of reverse • Physical Digital is able to systems too expensive or not well suited to engineering projects, including material reduce clients’ costs, errors, working with scanned data. changes, injection molding, R&D, tool and time to market making, and prototyping. After a review of several software options, SpaceClaim looked to be easy to use, Using the scan data as a guide, Physical required minimal training, and matched Digital and its clients can make key design up well with the company’s needs. In 2012, decisions in order to replicate a component a reverse engineering project came to as it was originally designed. This includes www.physicaldigital.com Case Study Physical Digital Ltd

“We were awarded a project that was substantial enough and easy enough About SpaceClaim to look at doing the work ourselves and in doing that work, SpaceClaim paid SpaceClaim, the flexible and for itself. That was a big advantage. It was literally overnight.” affordable 3D modeling software for engineers from , Inc., is easy “SpaceClaim is great for what we do. Reverse engineering has become to learn and use and is completely 40 percent of our revenue.” CAD-neutral. It enables engineers and other manufacturing professionals — Daniel Lainchbury, senior applications engineer, Physical Digital to rapidly create new designs or manipulate and edit existing 2D and 3D geometry, without the complexity the creation of geometric features to Using the industry’s leading optical scanning of traditional CAD. exact dimensions rather than fitted to the systems, it has the ability to scan organic and scan data. Components can be reverse geometric forms and a wide range of sizes For more information on SpaceClaim, engineered exactly as manufactured, from tiny molded components to airplanes please visit www.spaceclaim.com. recreating scan data accurately into a and ocean-going yachts. Physical Digital can CAD model for use in remanufacture work on-site with clients or from dedicated of components or analysis including offices in Surrey. Computational Fluid Dynamics and Finite Element Analysis. Further, using SpaceClaim means history-free CAD files can be provided in a wide range of formats.

Physical Digital now counts leading brands in the aerospace, marine, automotive and medical industries, among others as reverse engineering customers thanks to the industriousness of Rapley and Lainchbury, along with the ease of use and power Its measurement equipment allows the of SpaceClaim. company to scan any object of any size in precise detail, delivering the data in any format clients require, so that they can immediately use it to improve designs and processes.

Non-contact 3D scanning is a fast, accurate and cost-effective way to collect physical data that allows engineers to design better products, reduce prototyping errors, improve production processes, guarantee quality and About Physical Digital build a reputation for excellence. Physical Digital specializes in non-contact Physical Digital’s services are used for: 3D scanning using the GOM ATOS and • All engineering and TRITOP measurement system. Physical manufacturing sectors Digital is the UK’s leading bureau service and provides bespoke solutions to high-end • Design industrial applications. • Animation

The company’s areas of expertise include: • Medical products • Reverse engineering • Education • Quality inspection • 3D presentations • Design & reducing time-to-market • Art and archaeology • Research and development • Consumer goods • Rapid prototyping • Virtual reality and more

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