Thought Leadership

Accelerated Product Development through digitalization

By Paul van Straten
Accelerate your Product Development through digitalization
Accelerate your Product Development through digitalization

We are living in an age of disruptive innovation with new technologies changing the entire landscape of the industries. Especially the auto industry is experiencing this disruption more profoundly than many other industries whereby most innovation and differentiation now comes from electrical, electronic and software. Where we see ever more stringent regulatory requirements as the world looks to transition from fossil fuels to electrified mobility. With an increased involvement of technology giants and small agile start-ups into the market, we see accelerated disruptive innovation taking place. Something that is changing customer expectations along the way. For traditional automobile manufacturers and OEM´s the pressure to keep pace with innovation is intense. Without the ability to adapt to this new complex world of auto making they risk jeopardizing their position in the marketplace. Siemens solutions for Accelerated Product Development are the key to deal with this increasingly complex environment.

For many OEM´s the R&D process has evolved over the years and consists of several sequential steps across different teams that are then finally integrated at the end. However, there is a recognition that this way of working can be slow and limits the capacity for innovation. There is also fear that to transition from this to something different would require significant organizational change and can be costly both in terms of money and time. But as complexity grows in the industry a failure to adopt new processes and accelerated innovation could lead to detrimental outcomes. The struggle remains that any new development with future ROI´s needs to be balanced with the fact that manufacturers need to make revenue now, which it´s a delicate balancing act.

As complexity increases there needs to be better integration between engineering domain. Traditionally there has been limited connection between for instance mechanical and software design. As a result, potential issues can arise when making design changes that are not immediately insightful for other disciplines. Potential additional costs are eventually a result. A different approach to the flow of engineering will therefore be required. One that balances a faster pace of innovation with maintaining profits.

What is required is an Accelerated Product Development approach with digitalization at its heart. With digital twin and thread technologies automakers are able to implement a highly efficient product development process. It allows to coordinate the flow of engineering, requirements, production and testing data across disciplines. A digital twin of the entire product development process provides a platform on which new technology and designs can be modeled and validated faster. This drastically reduces the number of physical prototype builds and tests. Furthermore, it rapidly speeds up the R&D process and enables new products to reach showroom floors earlier.

Through enhanced simulation engineers can have a broader scope. They can have real-time insight in up to date information that is connected throughout the product development ecosystem. Through intelligent design exploration leveraging AI, and virtual verification and validation significant time and cost saving can be achieved. Potential problems are automatically identified and resolved earlier. Test results are automatically fed back into the process, which enables design optimization and easily reach compliance to requirements.

A new phase of auto manufacturing is upon us. One where faster innovation is essential in order to take a leading role in the industry. At Siemens we want to help you be at the forefront of the revolution that is disrupting the market. Siemens solutions for accelerated Product Development provide you with the tools necessary to develop high quality products. It ensures less recalls and will reduce unnecessary failure and cost.

If you want to learn more about how to deliver the next generation of cars faster and stay ahead of the competition, download the white paper.

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This article first appeared on the Siemens Digital Industries Software blog at https://blogs.sw.siemens.com/thought-leadership/2021/07/02/accelerated-product-development-through-digitalization/