Scanner Gives Peterson Builders Edge In Navy Shipbuilding Project

Peterson Builders, Inc. (PBI), of Sturgeon Bay, Wis., had a tall order with a tight deadline: build a series of ships for the US Navy and provide the entire set of construction drawings in digital data form.

The problem was that the drawings had been created manually, and re-creating them in digital format would require thousands of hours of computer work by experienced CAD operators. More than 750 assembly drawing sheets would have to be converted to a CAD database in less than eight months. Using conventional digitizing approaches would impose a severe strain on PBI's CAD resources and staff.

George O'Keefe, PBI's CAD/ CAM manager, went looking for an innovative solution to the drawingconversion problem. He selected Skantek, Inc., of Warren, N.J.—a new firm looking to "beta test" its new product, the SK-1010 digitizing scanner. Skantek needed an initial test installation, outside its own facilities, for the new SK-1010.

Mr. O'Keefe approached his challenge pragmatically: he reasoned that manual drawings had been sufficient documentation in the past, and that similar-quality data in digital format would yield savings to organization, distribution and incorporation of changes into the drawings. Mr. O'Keefe set his data-conversion goal as the exact duplication of the existing drawings.

"What we wanted," Mr. O'Keefe said, "was a device that would give us an accurate, one-to-one representation within the CAD system of the original, hand-rendered drawing." He looked for some straight answers from the people at Skantek.

The SK-1010 system was explained.

No commercially-available software technology can transform manually-prepared drawings into perfectly accurate computer files.

But Mr. O'Keefe learned that the SK-1010 could help make the job of large-document conversion to his computer database easier, more productive and less costly.

As an experienced professional, Mr. O'Keefe recognized the scanner's value as a tool that could help PBI complete the Navy contract and make the drawing conversions without cost overruns or delays. PBI ordered that the scanner be delivered and, prior to its arrival, established a second shift for operation of the CAD system.

With a second shift, newly-hired CAD operators could begin the process immediately. Upon arrival of the SK-1010, the scanning began, and technicians could begin editing the scanned files without interfering with PBI's regular CAD activities.

Installation of the SK-1010 scanner went smoothly. "It was the easiest installation of CAD equipment I've been involved with," said Mr.

O'Keefe. And the SK-1010 proved to be easy enough to operate that most of the drawings could be scanned by first-shift clerical workers.

"In two hours it was up and running, and within three hours, we'd trained some operators. We were scanning drawings that same evening," added Mr. O'Keefe.

After scanning a drawing, the optically- read data is converted from raster to vector format, written to tape, and readied for transfer to the CAD system. Once the converted drawing is loaded onto the CAD system, it goes through an editing process.

The number of steps necessary to complete this process vary, depending on the quality and density of the original drawing.

Working closely with the Skantek team, Peterson Builders has developed its own techniques and procedures to fully utilize the converted data on their own CAD system. By using the scanned data as a template, PBI's CAD operators are readily able to separate acceptable data from those data that require further attention. Mr. O'Keefe says that, even in cases where the density and quality of scanned drawings requires extensive editing, the SK-1010 scanning process continues to be cost-effective. Once a drawing is fed into the scanner, the scanning requires little active supervision, thus further reducing personnel costs.

Having proven to Peterson Builder's satisfaction that the SK-1010 is capable of helping convert large engineering drawings to CAD files, Mr. O'Keefe is now seeking more applications for the scanner. One potential application he already has identified is the capture of design sketches and graphics for technical reports.

For Skantek's part, the PBI project provided the challenge it was looking for, to test the SK-1010's capabilities. The typical PBI design drawing is 30 inches wide, 12 feet long, averages three sheets per drawing and is comprised of many densely packed lines and symbols.

Once scanned, each drawing at first required 10 to 20 hours of editing on the CAD system. This was quickly reduced to an average of two to three hours per drawing sheet on all drawings, including A-, B-, C-, and D-size and roll-type documents. Before the SK-lOlO scanner was introduced into the process, re-creation time for each roll drawing averaged 44 hours.

For PBI, the SK-1010 is just what the Navy ordered. Peterson Builders has found that the Skantek device gives it a technological edge, helping PBI to meet the Navy's requirements without having to expand its CAD staff.

For free literature on the SK-1010 digitizing sanner, Circle 3 on Reader Service Card

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