Tractor reverse engineering: how to speed up the measurement process by half

Creaform Technologies in Action: Tractor Scanning for Attachment Development

MX (formerly known as MAILLEUX) is a family-owned company founded in France in 1951 that specializes in the design, manufacture and sale of loading equipment for agricultural tractors. MX is able to equip more than 600 tractor models with such equipment, which allows it to be among the world leaders in this market segment.

Among other things, the company has experience in developing brackets (for mounting loading manipulators) for all agricultural tractors on the market, as well as in developing control systems for its loaders.

Problem: Too Slow

Tractor manufacturers rarely share information about their new products, and getting 3D models of these tractors is even more difficult, if at all possible. However, for the development and production of attachments such as MX loading cranes, it is absolutely necessary to have 3D models. Therefore, the company has to perform 3D measurements of all tractors for which it wants to design and manufacture attachments. These measurements are performed at the factory in order to obtain a 3D model of each tractor.

Creaform 3D solutions have allowed us to reduce measurement time by more than half, and therefore reduce the time it takes to market the product

Emmanuel Renoux, Director of Research and Development, MX

Until recently, MX took measurements, scans, and reconstructed a complete 3D model of a tractor using 3D manipulators (such as Romer and Faro). Such a process provided a viable solution, but labor costs were extremely high - it took a whole week to complete this task. In addition, during the measurement process, the measuring manipulators had to be moved many times, and each time the device had to be re-calibrated in a stable environment and reinstalled.

Wanting to reduce the time spent on measurements and reduce associated costs, the technical service of the company began to look for an alternative solution that would be both faster and more flexible, and would providehigh accuracy and reliability of measurements regardless of external conditions.

Eureka: Creaform 3D Scanner!

Optical Scanner for KIM MetraSCAN 3D

This happened at the MesurExpoVision industrial exhibition - MX representatives discovered Creaform's portable 3D technologies and appreciated the advantages that the company can get in terms of optimizing the production process. Indeed, TRUaccuracy technology and dynamic measurement functions, which are an exclusive feature of HandyPROBE coordinate measuring machines (CMMs) and Creaform 3D scanners, guarantee fast, accurate measurements.

Creaform metrological systems are not only completely insensitive to vibrations and movements in the surrounding space, but also allow you to dynamically increase the measurement volume without any difficulties, eliminating the need to align the object or scan it in parts. This was an undeniable advantage for the MX, since it made it possible to completely exclude such stages as moving the manipulator (when carrying out a full measurement of the tractor), calibration and planning.

Flexible measuring system

In the fall of 2012, the company acquired a scanning and sensing system, which included the HandyPROBE handheld CMM, the MetraSCAN 3D optical scanner for the CMM, the C-Track 780 dual-tracker, and 3D processing software Geomagic Solutions.

Today, MX uses Creaform technology to digitize its tractors - scanning all areas necessary for designing adaptable structures, including bracket mounting points and their surroundings (tractor cab, exhaust pipe, fuel tank, battery compartment, filters, pipes, radiator, engine and belt drive pulley). Then the surfaces are processed, cut and cleaned using Geomagic Solutions software, and then exported to CAD in .stl format.



The 3D model of the tractor created in the Geomagic software from the scan results.

Moreover, the integration of these portable 3D measurement technologies from Creaform allowed MX to create a flexible measuring system that can be used by 6 different resources of the design department.

Quick measurements = workflow acceleration

Emmanuel Renoux, director of research and development at MX, explains how Creaform technologies helped the company: “This system has allowed us to reduce the measurement time by more than half. Due to time savings, we can measure a larger number of tractors and, therefore, offer our customers more choices and reduce the time to market for the product. Our goal is to bring the indicator of completed projects from 50 to about 100 per year, then we, so to speak, “will reach full speed”. This new equipment also speeds up and simplifies our work when you need to take measurements outside the company, whether in France or abroad. ”

“Without investing in this equipment, we could not keep up with the accelerating pace, as the speed of new tractors entering the market continues to grow as manufacturers offer more and more different options in order to better satisfy the needs of their consumers (farmers). Since we are now better equipped to take measurements, we even strengthened our design departments to optimize all of this data, ”adds Renu.