Altair Case Studies Scania's Simulation Driven Design Process for Efficient Vehicle Development

	Scania's Simulation Driven Design Process for Efficient Vehicle Development Altair

Scania's Simulation Driven Design Process for Efficient Vehicle Development

Altair

Technology Category	Analytics & Modeling - Digital Twin / Simulation
Applicable Industries	Automotive Equipment & Machinery
Applicable Functions	Product Research & Development Quality Assurance
Use Cases	Digital Twin Virtual Reality
Services	Testing & Certification
Challenge	Scania, an international manufacturer of commercial vehicles and engines, was faced with the challenge of speeding up their design and development processes to produce lighter yet structurally and functionally efficient component designs. The automotive and commercial vehicle industries face many challenges when bringing a new product to market, including CO2 emission regulations and customer demands for more efficient vehicles. There is also high competition and pricing pressure in this market, forcing development teams to speed up their development process to achieve a shorter time to market. Scania's traditional process involved physical testing of prototypes, which led to many iteration loops between design and engineering departments, slowing down the development process. Read More
About Customer	Scania is an international manufacturer of commercial vehicles and engines. The company is based out of Sweden, operates in over 100 countries, and employs approximately 38,600 employees worldwide. Scania faces many challenges in bringing new products to market, including CO2 emission regulations, customer demands for more efficient vehicles, high competition, and pricing pressure. These challenges prompted Scania to reevaluate their current process and implement a simulation driven design process to speed up their development process and produce lighter yet structurally and functionally efficient component designs. Read More
Solution	Scania implemented a simulation driven design process using solidThinking Inspire within the development chain. This allowed designers to take more responsibility over the design work by implementing upfront simulation and optimization. The process begins with Scania’s designers defining a design space, applying loads and other known boundary conditions, and then running an optimization. The ideal structural shapes generated by Inspire are then transferred into their CAD system to refine the geometry and run a first structural analysis. This new process allows the designer to handle structural tasks within their CAD tool, reducing iteration time between different departments. A recent example of this new process involved the redesign of a steering arm, where the designer used Inspire to create multiple design proposals, which were then refined and analyzed in Catia. The final design was handed over to a CAE engineer for verification and passed all required tests. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Analytics & Modeling - Digital Twin / Simulation

Applicable Industries

Automotive

Equipment & Machinery

Applicable Functions

Product Research & Development

Quality Assurance

Use Cases

Digital Twin

Virtual Reality

Services

Testing & Certification

Challenge

Scania, an international manufacturer of commercial vehicles and engines, was faced with the challenge of speeding up their design and development processes to produce lighter yet structurally and functionally efficient component designs. The automotive and commercial vehicle industries face many challenges when bringing a new product to market, including CO2 emission regulations and customer demands for more efficient vehicles. There is also high competition and pricing pressure in this market, forcing development teams to speed up their development process to achieve a shorter time to market. Scania's traditional process involved physical testing of prototypes, which led to many iteration loops between design and engineering departments, slowing down the development process.

About Customer

Scania is an international manufacturer of commercial vehicles and engines. The company is based out of Sweden, operates in over 100 countries, and employs approximately 38,600 employees worldwide. Scania faces many challenges in bringing new products to market, including CO2 emission regulations, customer demands for more efficient vehicles, high competition, and pricing pressure. These challenges prompted Scania to reevaluate their current process and implement a simulation driven design process to speed up their development process and produce lighter yet structurally and functionally efficient component designs.

Solution

Scania implemented a simulation driven design process using solidThinking Inspire within the development chain. This allowed designers to take more responsibility over the design work by implementing upfront simulation and optimization. The process begins with Scania’s designers defining a design space, applying loads and other known boundary conditions, and then running an optimization. The ideal structural shapes generated by Inspire are then transferred into their CAD system to refine the geometry and run a first structural analysis. This new process allows the designer to handle structural tasks within their CAD tool, reducing iteration time between different departments. A recent example of this new process involved the redesign of a steering arm, where the designer used Inspire to create multiple design proposals, which were then refined and analyzed in Catia. The final design was handed over to a CAE engineer for verification and passed all required tests.

Impact #1	By deploying an optimization tool (Inspire) and simulation into the design process, designers no longer have to wait for the CAE or test engineer’s evaluation of their design. This reduces iteration time between different departments and leads to a lean and more efficient development process. The input criteria such as loads and other boundary conditions still come from the CAE engineer, who verifies if the design meets all criteria before the component is built and physically tested. This new process has led to fewer iteration cycles between the CAE and the design departments, leading to significant savings in development time, costs, and the creation of better products. The success of this process is attributed to the efficient use of software such as Inspire.

Impact #1

By deploying an optimization tool (Inspire) and simulation into the design process, designers no longer have to wait for the CAE or test engineer’s evaluation of their design. This reduces iteration time between different departments and leads to a lean and more efficient development process. The input criteria such as loads and other boundary conditions still come from the CAE engineer, who verifies if the design meets all criteria before the component is built and physically tested. This new process has led to fewer iteration cycles between the CAE and the design departments, leading to significant savings in development time, costs, and the creation of better products. The success of this process is attributed to the efficient use of software such as Inspire.

Benefit #1	30% mass reduction in selected components
Benefit #2	3x faster development time due to simulations early in the design process
Benefit #3	Improved design quality

Benefit #1

30% mass reduction in selected components

Benefit #2

3x faster development time due to simulations early in the design process

Benefit #3

Improved design quality

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Overview

Scania's Simulation Driven Design Process for Efficient Vehicle Development

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit