Transformers!
No, not the shape shifting robot aliens of toy and movie fame, but the electrical transformers that supply electricity to millions of homes, offices, buildings. The big transformers are expensive and powerful. When one goes on the fritz aka breaks down, it has to be replaced. This can cost millions of dollars and the only other option is to try to get it rebuilt. This option is awesome but it called for excruciating man hours and details that added to the cost and rebuilding.
That was the old days.
Nowadays thanks to 3D scanning we can scan an entire transformer from top to bottom as they don’t have or have limited CAD data.
Coming to the rescue is EMS and their on-site 3D scanning technology and tools. EMS used their Surphaser 25HSX hemispherical 3D scanner to do the job. It sounds like something from Star Trek but it sure works like something from Star Trek. It scans 360 x 270 degrees in just one single scanning past and capturing the data from as far as 3 feet distance up to 60 feet away from the scanning object! This wide range allows the scanning of big objects fast and easy.
The Surphaser is indeed the state of the art high accuracy long-range distance scanner with unprecedented resolution and exquisite detail. Used on the transformer housing it performed superbly and would boggle the mind of someone like Thomas Edison the 
legendary inventor.
Next was EMS using their RapidForm scanning software to create the 3D model of the transformer housing.
It only took a day to do.
How’s that for space age replicator technology?
What used to take 3 weeks to do now takes a day or two and with super detail and accuracy. What EMS is doing with their 3D scanning and printing technology is like again something from a Star Trek movie. The technology continues to grow by leaps and bounds and on top of that easier to use. Just think of the possibilities down the road. Capturing treasured objects via 3D scanning and knowing you can reproduce them at any time. Capturing those priceless moments via 3D scanning and reproducing them. Rare parts, collectibles, building materials and more.
There’s no end to what this new technology can do and as it gets better, so will the world.