NAFEMS launches Autosim

By DE Editors

Thirty-two of Europe’s leading automotive companies have joined forces to launch the EC-funded Autosim Project(Glasgow, UK) to ensure that the entire European automotive industry ismaking the most effective use of engineering simulation techniques, according to materials received at DE. Thethree-year project is supported by 600,000 of funding from theEuropean Commission and is coordinated by NAFEMS, the InternationalAssociation for the Engineering Analysis Community.

The inaugural Autosim workshop, held January 17-18 2006 in Barcelona,Spain, attracted more than 40 companies: OEMs, Tier 1 and 2 suppliers,consultants, and research organizations. The fundamental objective ofAutosim is to promote better and more effective use of simulationtechnology in the European automotive industry. It has twocomplementary aims: to develop best practices and identify the mostpromising potential breakthrough technologies of the future. Theparticipants study integration of simulation into the developmentprocess, materials characterization, and improving confidence in use ofsimulation.

While some major European automotive companies have reaped substantialbenefits from the integration of modeling and simulation in theirdesign process, NAFEMS members see a need for more widespread adoptionof simulation throughout the supply chain. At the same time, technologywith the potential to reach a new generation of advanced applicationsis being developed.

The Autosim project has identified a number of key issuescurrently holding these developments back. They include a lack ofsufficiently skilled personnel and ineffective use of the existingworkforce; small companies unable to deploy the technology; a lack ofconfidence in analytical results; suppliers who use differentprocedures when supplying to different companies; and researchers whoneed a coordinated industrial view on priorities for the development ofthese breakthrough technologies.

To address these issues, Autosim has established an international teamof leading experts charged with developing a preliminary set of bestpractice guidelines, standard analytical procedures, and researchstrategies. They will then consult with the wider automotive industryto gain feedback on these preliminary documents, in order to producedefinitive guidelines.

For more information, visit autosim.org.

Sources: Press materials received from the company.