In the era of Industry 4.0, digital transformation has become key for enterprises to enhance competitiveness. 3D animation, as an advanced digital tool, is gradually emerging in industrial production, providing strong support for enterprises to achieve cost reduction and efficiency improvement.
Cost Reduction Role of 3D Animation in the Industrial Design Stage
In the industrial design process, traditional design methods often require the creation of numerous physical models, which are not only costly but also time-consuming. 3D animation can build product models in a virtual environment, allowing designers to intuitively observe the product's appearance, structure, and function, promptly identify design flaws, and make modifications. For example, US MAGBW Papersystems, a company focused on the R&D and manufacturing of high-end corrugated board production lines, leveraging its rich practical experience and years of technical accumulation from its R&D team, launched a new belt-type corrugator. It uses 3D industrial animation to simulate the unique design of the corrugating roller with a larger upper roller and smaller lower roller, redefining the rationality of pressure distribution, greatly reducing resonance during equipment operation, and ultimately solving the problem of paperboard corrugation warping that plagued traditional corrugators.
Assisting Production Process Optimization
3D animation can clearly demonstrate the entire industrial production process, helping enterprises identify bottlenecks and inefficiencies. Through simulation and analysis of the production process, enterprises can optimize and adjust production lines to improve efficiency. For instance, Fujian Fangshengshi Information Technology Co., Ltd., when launching a new IGV intelligent forklift, commissioned Xiamen Xuncheng to create a 3D animated scene demonstration. The animation not only showcased the exterior design of the IGV intelligent forklift but also its precise operational performance, collaborative operation, and advanced intelligent control system. It also visualized details like system data acquisition. On the smart factory production line, using 3D animation to simulate the material flow path of the IGV intelligent forklift helps identify the most reasonable movement path layout and operating procedures, reducing unnecessary human intervention and material handling distances, thereby increasing overall factory production efficiency.
More Efficient Employee Training
Traditional employee training methods typically consume significant human resources, materials, and time, and the training effectiveness may not be ideal. 3D animation can provide employees with vivid and intuitive training content, making it easier for them to understand and master operational skills. Taking Xiamen Sanlei Packaging Materials Co., Ltd. as an example, this company is a leader in Fujian Province's plastic packaging industry. Due to production expansion needs, after introducing top-tier flexographic printing equipment, the manufacturer dispatched two professional technicians to the factory to train operators. Traditional training involved technicians repeatedly demonstrating and explaining on-site, making it difficult for operators to fully grasp the equipment's internal structure and complex operational logic.
In contrast, 3D animation can dynamically display steps such as material feeding methods, plate roller and printing roller replacement, and printing pressure adjustment. Operators can repeatedly watch interactively, switch perspectives freely, pause, and replay operational details to quickly grasp key operational points. After adopting 3D animation for training, employee training time was reduced by 50%, and training effectiveness improved by 30%.
Enhancing Inter-enterprise Communication and Collaboration
In industrial production, communication and collaboration between enterprises, suppliers, and customers are crucial. 3D animation can serve as a universal communication language, helping all parties better understand product and project requirements. Enterprises can use 3D animation to present product design requirements and technical specifications to suppliers, ensuring they provide compliant components; and to showcase product functions and features to customers, thereby enhancing customer satisfaction and trust.
In summary, the application of 3D animation in industrial production has significant effects on cost reduction and efficiency improvement. With continuous technological development, 3D animation will play an even more important role in the industrial field.
Featured FAQs:
Q: Are animated videos expensive?
A: The price of animated videos varies significantly, mainly influenced by production complexity, duration, style, creativity, production cycle, and service content. On the surface, animated videos are not cheap, with prices often ranging from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands, or even millions. However, for high-end promotional videos of industrial products and machinery, animated videos offer high cost-effectiveness.
1- Replaces traditional paper brochures, is intuitive and easy to understand, spreads quickly, and reduces reliance on experienced sales personnel.
2- Animated videos are high-quality, perfectly showcasing many details, unique functions, and structures, facilitating deeper communication with clients.
3- Animated videos can be made interactive, increasing customer engagement.
Q: What can 3D animation videos bring to an enterprise?
A: Generally speaking, 3D animation videos are divided into promotional 3D animation, technical 3D animation, and display 3D animation.
Promotional 3D Animation:
Can better demonstrate equipment highlights (e.g., recreating product or equipment usage scenarios; highlighting parts through perspective views, hiding irrelevant structures, etc.), faster dissemination (instantaneous, regardless of distance), reduce reliance on experienced sales personnel; stimulate purchasing desire, and promote product sales. It can also shape a professional corporate image, establish a high-end brand image, and achieve the goal of enhancing corporate image through more vivid and dynamic brand communication and promotion.
Technical 3D Animation:
Includes six major categories: equipment operation, equipment maintenance, equipment repair, wear part replacement, equipment installation, equipment assembly, and equipment safety. Effectively reduces after-sales service pressure, especially during the equipment warranty period; effectively increases customer loyalty; and has become a better marketing method.
Display 3D Animation:
Mainly applied in:
1- New Factory Planning: Using 3D animation demonstrations instead of traditional CAD drawings provides greater intuition, allowing for more accurate evaluation of new factory plans;
2- Project Bidding: Replacing traditional PPT presentations with 3D animation facilitates review and understanding by the client's leadership, providing a competitive advantage;
3- Achievement Declaration: As important material for achievement declaration, replacing traditional PPT presentations with 3D animation makes review easier.
4- Employee Training: Makes training content easier to understand and master, improves training efficiency and effectiveness, and reduces training costs.
Q: What types of equipment (products) are suitable for producing 3D animation videos?
A: Almost all equipment is suitable for producing 3D animation videos (complex mechanical products, electronic products, automotive products, construction and real estate products, medical products, fast-moving consumer goods), especially the following three types:
1- New Product/Model Promotion: When promoting new products or models to the market, 3D animation videos can directly and fully showcase product highlights, resonate with customers, and help sales teams quickly penetrate the market.
2- Foreign Trade Sales: The primary challenge in foreign trade sales is communication with international clients, especially regarding the translation and explanation of technical terms. 3D animation videos allow foreign clients to quickly understand equipment highlights, paving the way for deeper communication.
3- Featured Models for Exhibitions: Every exhibition represents a significant investment in promotional budgets for enterprises. Especially for large machinery or industrial products, 3D animation demonstrations not only intuitively and vividly showcase product highlights but can even allow exhibitors to forgo bringing actual machinery or industrial products to less critical exhibitions, greatly saving exhibition costs.
About Xuncheng Technology
Founded in 2016, with 9 years of professional industrial 3D animation creation experience. Clients include various types of enterprises such as startups, overseas clients, listed companies, and foreign-funded enterprises. Specializes in 3D animation creation for mechanical equipment, high-tech industries, software development, foreign trade companies, etc. Provides one-stop industrial 3D animation creative services from product sales to after-sales maintenance.
Provided nearly 3000 minutes of professional animated videos for over 200 manufacturing enterprises.
Whether at exhibition sites or during client visits; whether expanding into overseas markets or enhancing after-sales service, we firmly believe that through the power of design, complex products and machinery can be presented in stunning 3D animation. This not only brings a unique visual experience to clients but also quickly captivates them.
