Listen to the podcast now!<\/strong><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nBreaking down silos\u00a0with E\/E co-design<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Van Berkum began her career over 20 years ago in wire harness design at Yazaki, the world’s largest harness supplier. She also worked at Nissan in various roles in electrical and vehicle program management. Van Berkum has been with Siemens for over five years, helping customers execute large scale deployments of Capital, Siemens\u2019 integrated electrical software system. Most recently, she\u2019s been part of the Capital product management team representing the connectivity domain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to Van Berkum, one of the key challenges for electrical or electronic designers is that teams must work in silos. \u201cThis causes a lack of visibility of changes, both upstream and downstream in the design,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For example, if a mechanical engineer makes a change to a component or moves a connection point to a harness, it impacts routing, wire length, voltage drop and other variables. \u201cThe information isn’t coming as consistently or as frequently as it should, and it\u2019s difficult to understand how requirements are implemented across different domains such as electrical, mechanical or software,\u201d she said. \u201cHow do you get those teams to communicate effectively with each other? What’s the overall performance look like, and how do we break down those cycles?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Overcoming the challenges created by working in silos is critical for accelerating design cycles, minimizing error, improving quality and delivering innovative products to market at the speed of business. The first step, said Van Berkum, is using the right tools. \u201cYou really need to visualize and understand the implication of requirement changes on downstream designs like electrical and electronics,\u201d she said. \u201cThat traceability is vital for safe and secure E\/E systems designs.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Performing architectural trade studies is also really important, because it enables teams to understand the system implications of change. \u201cWhen implementations are done at the design level, how do you propagate and feed those back into the architectural design?\u201d asked Van Berkum. \u201cAnd how do you do that sooner in the design process?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Welcoming change<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Unfortunately, legacy approaches to systems design inhibit the speed and effectiveness of such communication between engineering domains \u2013 and change isn\u2019t easy. Engineers have grown comfortable with the systems they have in place and are reluctant to adopt new ways of doing things. \u201cThey don’t want to pay for it, and they don’t want to be the guinea pig,\u201d Van Berkum said. \u201cNobody wants to go first.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, Van Berkum believes that change is possible when the value proposition is clear. \u201cIf leaders are communicating that change will result in 5-10% growth, and if they communicate they\u2019ll be patient with their team if productivity dips as they adopt a new solution, then success is possible,\u201d she said, adding that Siemens\u2019 customers who are doing proactive training and pilot programs are making progress.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The digital thread changes the game<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Van Berkum said that whether the industry is automotive, aerospace or another, everyone is trying to do the same thing: Shorten design cycles. \u201cWhen I first started my career in automotive, our design development cycle was maybe four to six years for a vehicle design, and now we’re at about a year and a half to two year,\u201d she said. How did that happen? \u201cYou have to have a digital twin and a shorter feedback cycle.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
With a digital thread, it\u2019s possible to lock in requirements from customers and facilitate co-collaboration between disciplines and domains, and that\u2019s what Siemens brings to the table. \u201cSiemens Capital has a great solution, and what I like about Capital is that it does exist really well and integrate well with our tools in the Siemens Accelerator, with other MCAD, or ECAD or PLM systems,\u201d Van Berkum said. \u201cWe have a lot of tight data integrations and bridges to other tools, as well. Our solution enables teams to eliminate manual entry and reuse data, so they spend less time in the tool and make fewer errors.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chavez pointed out that Siemens Capital enables all stakeholders to see changes to the design \u2013 or the potential for change \u2013 instantly, and address those changes on the fly. \u201cYou can conduct \u2018what if\u2019 scenarios and allow the full team to react instantaneously,\u201d he said \u2013 and that encourages all of the teams to think not just about their components but about the system as a whole. It also improves traceability, enabling teams to understand why certain changes were made and keep a digital record of those decisions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When it comes to applying these best practices, Van Berkum said are only subtle differences between aerospace and automotive E\/E design. \u201cAerospace designers work with massive, super long cables, whereas automotive design is more compartmentalized,\u201d she said. \u201cBoth are leaning toward a generative design approach. What can they do that\u2019s more automatic, more intelligent, and less manual? And how can they reuse data? These are the key challenges in both industries.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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