The Automotive Industry

Digital Manufaturing

Warning lights flash as cars careen into walls and crumple, accordion-style. Crash-test robots twist and turn to avoid collision, while lifelike, three-dimensional characters do their part to reassemble the pieces. This is no extreme video game. Rather, it's the latest chapter in an information revolution that is transforming the manufacturing industry. Computer simulation and collaboration technologies, known collectively as digital manufacturing, are being used by car companies and aerospace giants to test-drive product concepts and experiment with manufacturing techniques in lieu of building costly and time-consuming physical prototypes.

Today, the average new car has some 14,000 to 15,000 parts and accessories. Manufacturers' processes must flow together seamlessly in order to produce a quality car. The idea behind digital manufacturing is to leverage IT to collaboratively develop the manufacturing plan and manufacturing equipment simultaneously with the product.

Example of a simulation model

Why is this important? Because design flaws, manufacturing kinks and inefficient processes can be hammered out and corrected early on when changes create little disruption of critical time-to-market schedules. The potential cost savings are huge. While the concept isn't entirely new (early iterations were known as concurrent engineering or design for assembly), it's only now starting to take root. CIMdata, a consulting and research firm specializing in product lifecycle management issues, estimates that investments in digital manufacturing technologies will grow at a clip of more than 25 percent annually for the next three years.

Simulate First will help you apply simulation

SimulateFirst brings the simulation experience into your business. With state of the art simulation techniques we can quickly develop simulation models for your needs. The simulation models built by SimulateFirst correspond accurately to your real world. Talk to our specialists who will give you an insight into our way of doing simulations.