APPLICATION OF VIRTUAL MANUFACTURING IN DEVELOPING MANUFACTURING SYSTEM FOR THE LENS MODULE OF PHONE-CAMERA

Virtual manufacturing is a powerful methodology in developing a new product, equipment, and manufacturing system. It enables the checking of errors in design before production. This paper is a case study of virtual manufacturing in an optical manufacturing factory, in which a phone-camera lens module is produced. Manual assembly and inspection are used in major operations in the factory, but new automatic equipments are developed for replacing these manual operations. 3D CAD and 3D simulation are used in the design phase to verify the motion of the equipment. The 3D part models are built with CATIA® and the models are assembled into IGRIP® for dynamic simulation. The throughput simulation is conducted with QUEST®. As a result, many design errors are found in the design phase, and development cost and time are substantially saved.