CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive
22 November 2007
Implementation Investments
Toyota Motorsport Races Forward with Dassault Systèmes Solutions
Dassault Systèmes (DS) announced the extension of its Toyota Motorsport GmbH partnership to include realistic simulation for virtual car testing and a 3D real-time development hub with DS's end-to-end PLM solutions. Toyota Motorsport's Formula 1 team practices Toyota's Kaizen philosophy of continuous improvement by always pushing the limits of technical innovation. This is where Dassault Systèmes plays a major role.
Toyota Motorsport's mission is to provide its Formula 1 racing team, "Panasonic Toyota Racing", with the fastest car possible, respecting the tight, two-week race schedule. One of its biggest challenges is to quickly adapt car design to upcoming racing conditions, such as circuit configurations, driver racing style, and weather conditions, as well as to comply with FIA regulations.
"We view all partnerships, and in particular the one we have with Dassault Systèmes, as a win-win opportunity. Dassault Systèmes offers us car development solutions that give us the cutting-edge performance that is required in Formula 1," says John Howett, president of Toyota Motorsport. "At the same time, we like to think we're pushing Dassault Systèmes' technology to new limits because of the ultimate challenge of material and performance that Formula 1 demands."
The partnership began in 2004, as Toyota Motorsport deployed DS's CATIA for virtual design and ENOVIA for product data management and collaboration to build their Formula 1 development hub. Today this hub uses 3D as the common project language to allow anyone to quickly access and intuitively understand design and product information. For instance, every person on the shop floor and in the assembly workshop uses the development hub to see the parts they have to produce. The track mechanics use DS's digital mock-up (DMU) applications to understand the car components' assembly requirements. Toyota Motorsport's marketing department uses photorealistic renderings to show sponsors how their logos will look in front of millions of TV viewers. All of these activities have improved the speed and accuracy of the team allowing them to make continuous improvements.
To further cut vehicle development time, Toyota Motorsport started using DS's realistic simulation products from SIMULIA for virtual testing. Toyota Motorsport's chassis department uses Abaqus FEA to do important structural calculations in the early stages of car development. "The software's speed and accuracy for nonlinear analysis let us fine tune the chassis and optimize vehicle performance very quickly. This is critical since every two weeks we face a different track with different characteristics that impact performance," adds Markus Schwarze, manager of IT technical applications, Toyota Motorsport. These tools are also used in the engine department enabling Toyota Motorsport to test and perfect models before actual production and ultimately make quicker racecars
Dassault Systèmes has been working with major automotive industry companies for over 20 years and provides a full range of PLM solutions to help them compete. For more information about Dassault Systèmes' automotive solutions, please visit: http://www.3ds.com/products-solutions/plm-solutions/
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