How Doepke Solves Product Portfolio Digitization Faster and More Innovatively with 3D Production

Challenge - Efficient Combinations for Numerous Product Variants

Doepke Schaltgeräte GmbH is an internationally active manufacturer of residual current protection technology. The traditional medium-sized company from Norden in East Frisia was among the pioneers worldwide in the development of residual current circuit breakers, commonly known as RCDs. Today, Doepke sells a variety of different models and various other products in the field of residual current protection.

Due to the growing variety of models and different labeling requirements, it became increasingly complex over time to represent the circuit breakers uniformly.

In an expensive and lengthy process, each circuit breaker model had to be staged individually. New circuit breaker variants could not simply be integrated but had to be completely re-photographed each time.

In search of more efficient alternatives to conventional product photography, Doepke finally decided to collaborate with RenderThat.

Solution - 3D Product Visualization with CGI

As an expert in CGI pipelines and scalable product representations, RenderThat was tasked with developing an efficient solution for creating 2000 different computer-generated product visualizations in a first step.

Compared to classic photography, the targeted CGI solution aimed to significantly simplify and accelerate future adjustments to the product range and labeling.

Based on 23 different circuit breaker designs, RenderThat developed corresponding "digital twins." Doepke provided the original circuit breakers and explained their special features.

A focus was on the printing area for labeling and identification. Critical information such as item designation, design, usage instructions, and other important safety symbols would later be placed on this area.

Over the course of the project, RenderThat developed a series of individual solutions to respond to specific challenges. This resulted in an efficient system that enabled automatic file adaptation, storage of print data, and finally, product visualization.

Different fonts and formats within the master data proved to be a particular challenge. These first had to be manually harmonized before the actual automation process could start. RenderThat and Doepke worked closely together throughout the entire time, successfully implementing even short-term changes.

Result - 3D Visualization as an Automated Product Pipeline

Through the effective use of powerful CGI technology and the meticulous work of its team, RenderThat was able to accurately recreate all 23 circuit breaker designs and prepare them for the automation process within a very short time.

The developed CGI pipeline was based on the product database, which contained the individual product specifications.

In a further automated process, RenderThat created the various printing clichés (printing schemes) and combined them with already completed product visualizations. This way, new visualizations were created within a few seconds.

Thanks to this process, Doepke received over 2000 individual images of its products in a very short time. The impressive result: even with the first delivery, the error rate was less than 1%. RenderThat immediately corrected the few remaining inaccuracies, thus providing Doepke with a high-quality end product.

Before collaborating with RenderThat, Doepke had to elaborately stage each of its numerous circuit breaker models for product photography.

Due to the time lag between the introduction of new products, the corresponding photo setup had to be rebuilt repeatedly. The consequence: camera perspective and lighting were never truly identical, which meant that the resulting images did not fully match each other. A uniform visualization of the products was therefore impossible. This previous process was not only inefficient but also cost the company a lot of time and money.

Thanks to RenderThat's CGI production, Doepke now has digital renderings of its designs and can quickly and easily adapt all labels digitally.

With the RenderThat CGI pipeline, identical results can be achieved over a longer period. This not only saves resources but also enables a contemporary, uniform product presentation.

Through the cooperation with RenderThat, Doepke specifically uses the advantages of digitization for the further development of its product representations. The result of this collaboration once again illustrates the advantages of CGI production over product photography. Doepke can now flexibly manage its products digitally and implement the complex labeling requirements of the electrical industry even more effectively. The company can present all circuit breaker models to its B2B customers in the form of product visualizations directly.

Doepke and RenderThat continue their successful cooperation. RenderThat is currently working on an expansion of the CGI pipeline and new areas of application. It is already clear: in the near future, Doepke will be able to present its products even faster and more comprehensively than before.

With RenderThat's CGI production, Doepke is successfully embracing digital innovation. The company can now present its products more uniformly, manage them much more easily, and also reduce costs.

jan viohl