The advantages and disadvantages of self-driving cars

The automotive sector is one area where technology is developing at a significantly fast pace. From developments in green technology to forward emergency braking in luxury vehicles, innovation is at the heart of the automotive sector. 

A particularly popular area of interest is driverless vehicles. Essentially, these self-driving cars use a vast array of sensors to understand the environment around the vehicle and use this information to navigate through the streets to your destination – without the need for assistance from a human.

Electric Vehicles – a Gold Rush?

Global Warming - Global Driving

Foremost on the political agenda across the world is global warming. Whether you believe it or not, and there is one notable leader who doesn’t, there is little point in ignoring the fact most world governments have it on their agenda.

This has led to initiatives of eliminating internal combustion engines on our roads. 

Training Certification - why do it?

How do you get recognition of your skills or you want to be involved in better work or been seen as making a difference - how do you show your difference?  

It’s all about having something unique that gives value to your employer.

Or if when job seeking how do you differentiate yourself from the rest of the pack? I had a friend who said you should draw pretty flowers on your CV! – whether he ever did that I don’t know, but in the competitive world we live you have to have a difference. That’s what sells. In sales jargon it’s called a Unique Selling Point, and when going for a job or looking to improve your position, that’s what you need.

CATIA 3DEXPERIENCE contributes to 2 Construction Awards

The 3DEXPERIENCE platform from Dassault Systemes has played an important role in winning 2 awards in the Construction industry.

The Institution of Structural Engineers has awarded the 2017 prize for Construction Innovation to the team that designed and built The TallWood House at Brock Commons - an 18-storey mass timber hybrid building at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver, Canada.

At 53m high, this student residence building has been recognized as the tallest mass timber hybrid building in the world. It is comprised of 17 storeys of five-ply cross-laminated timber (CLT) floor panels, glue-laminated timber columns.

Key to proving the construction process was the use of 3DEXPERIENCE to simulate the construction methods, from delivery of prefabricated parts to the work processes involved in assembling the building. CADMakers* used the 3DEXPERIENCE platform to simulate in real-time all these interactions and hence improve on methods in a digital world before committing to the real world.

See this video to compare the virtual with the real.

Zaha Hadid Architects used CATIA 3DEXPERIENCE as the platform for the design of the world’s longest asymmetrical single-stay bridge in Taiwan – The Danjiang Bridge. The design teams based in 3 locations across 2 continents used CATIA 3DEXPERIENCE On Cloud as the design and collaboration platform. 

This greatly improved communication of ideas, management of information and enhanced the collaboration across the teams. The design team at Zaha’s were awarded the 2017 innovation in Collaboration Award from the Computing Construction Awards.

Read the full case study here >>

Both these awards show the gains that the construction industry can get from adopting the 3DEXPERIENCE platform as not only a 3D BIM tool but as a collaboration platform on which to store, control and manage all project data – meeting the requirements of BIM Level 3.

*VIRTUAL DESIGN MODELLING: CadMakers Inc

The importance of composites in Aerospace & Automotive industries

Raise your hand if you’ve ever sat down and asked yourself ‘what can we do to improve our product quality?’ but struggled to find the most cost-effective way to do this. 

As the complexity of product designs increases, so too does the need to find the right materials and techniques to bring these designs to life. This is where composite materials come into their own. 

Here’s how your organisation can benefit from the use of composite materials and how the aerospace and automotive industries are making strides in the use of composites.

Understanding the risks in the aerospace supply chain

As consumers around the world are demanding greater access to air travel, this has led to orders for 38,000 new aircraft. Although this represents the potential for significant revenue, OEMs and suppliers face significant risks that they must overcome in order to develop these aircraft cost effectively and ensure a quick time to market. 

A major trigger of these risks is how OEMs are now tasking suppliers with designing aerospace parts in addition to manufacturing.

OEM customers benefit from proven integration experience & expertise for Stage V transition

Attempts by the European Commission to reduce air pollution poses new challenges for engine manufacturers in the form of Stage V emissions standards. Many manufacturers can use their knowledge and experience with on-road developments to ensure off-road engine developments work efficiently.

Following on from our previously published Stage V emissions article and discussions around tougher standards for more engine types;  After-treatment systems for smaller engines; and DPF in the after-treatment system, John Deere has become one of the first to release their developments.

On Cloud Collaborative Design

On Cloud software is the general trend of many applications – starting with email, it has progressed through to accounting software, customer relationship software and even finite element analysis.

Dassault Systemes certification & accreditation

Desktop Engineering’s team fully certified!

Desktop Engineering has always placed great importance on the technical team continuing their personal education and training in the software applications we supply and support. 

No more so than across the broad capabilities that Dassault Systemes develops for design and manufacturing industries. With a foundation on the core CATIA design application, the company has continued to ensure that the team become fully conversant and skilled with all new releases and developments that come year after year from Dassault Systemes.

On Cloud or Full Cloud?

Another term that is now being thrown into the mix, when trying to understand or determine whether CAD on Cloud is a realistic option is the term "Full Cloud"– what does it mean?

Firstly, it needs to be understood is that modern CAD systems deliver a high level of functionality - which in simple terms means lots of icons, buttons, options and ways of doing things. This means lots of lines of code.

Further, the geometry representations created now can create and visualise, to close engineering accuracy, the geometry of parts and assemblies that truly represent what will be manufactured. All this means that the data being created gets bigger.