The home appliance manufacturer Whirlpool announced on November 22 that it has incorporated digital manufacturing technology – Delmia’s V5 Human and DPM Assembly software – into its washing machine manufacturing operation for the Indian market. The technology offers a two-in-one ergonomic benefit as it targets the user’s precise needs while streamlining the design, manufacture and servicing of the appliances.
Developed and sold by Delmia Corp., a digital manufacturing brand of the Dassault Systèmes company, V5 Human provided population and anthropometric data that let Whirlpool India test its designs on a digital manikin. This “virtual human” had the attributes of target consumers in India. The software analyzed several proposed washing machine models on the criteria of maximum accessibility, vision and comfort.
The DPM Assembly software connects Computer Assisted Design (CAD) data with assembly times and the cost of materials, simplifying the planning and ordering phase.
It also simplifies the training process. The company wanted to ensure that the machines were easy to service, that maintenance manuals were self-explanatory and personnel would be able to efficiently maintain and service the models. The software allows it to ascertain the optimum assembly and disassembly process for servicing.
As an example of the simplification, S. Ramamurthi, general manager of Whirlpool India’s Regional Testing Center, said the company replaced complicated instructions for a snap removal with “a simple visual indicating how to lock and unlock the snap without stressing or breaking the parts during servicing.”
Whirlpool says the introduction of the new technology is part of a “customer-centric strategy that focuses on making sure our products are appropriate for the Indian consumer.”
Source: Delmia Corp