Ushering in a new Era with Jaguar Land Rover

Dassault Systemes announces JLR Supplier Offers

Jaguar Land Rover i-PLM 2.0 - The Engineering Toolset

Jaguar Land Rover’s heritage comprises some of the world’s most iconic vehicles, including Jaguar Mark II, E-Type, and the Land Rover Defender.  

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) emerged within Tata Motors as an exciting, dynamic global enterprise after having passed through the corporate hands of Ford Motors.  Due to JLR's varied ownership history, a complex mixture of automotive industry software was inherited from its previous owners, and this was not scaled or supportive of JLR’s aggressive business plan. 

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. 

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.

Topology Optimisation and 3D Printing

The use of FEA to design ‘optimal’ components has been around for nearly two decades.  In general terms it works by meshing an available volume for a part and then eating away at the space iteratively to leave just those bits of the mesh that are doing work while aiming at a target mass for the part, as in the examples below.

Using this method ‘raw’ it is easy to see how un-manufacturable designs can result, so much effort has been invested by software developers to place manufacturing constraints on the optimisation process to, for example, eliminate voids or undercuts in moulded parts.

Why Composite Materials are the best thing for the Automotive sector

If we get right down to it, composite materials are essentially the combination of multiple materials. Who knew that something so simple could be so powerful?

Fibre glass, Kevlar, carbon fibre. These are just some examples of composite materials that have changed the way we approach engineering and manufacturing. In particular, the automotive industry has benefitted significantly from the intelligent development of composite materials.

3 important talking points in the automotive sector

Developments in the automotive industry are happening all the time, making it difficult to keep up with the latest news and industry progress.

So we’ve outlined 3 of the biggest talking points in the automotive sector to get you up to speed with some of the latest developments.

Using the cloud to bring your designs to life

As a designer, you put your heart and soul in creating some of the most innovative and edgy designs you can think of. When you’ve got the design locked down, it can be awfully frustrating when it comes to mass-producing your product – because the end product is often quite far-removed from your original design.

When compromises have to be made to your design, the final product tends to be quite different to what customers originally demanded.

3 trends shaping the future of the automotive industry

Competition in the automotive industry is fierce, meaning OEMs need to find innovative ways to differentiate their vehicles and stay ahead of competitors. Yet, consumers also have their own demands, making the whole process even trickier. 

Here’s 3 trends automotive OEMs need to be aware of that are shaping the future of the automotive industry and will have an impact on future success.

Why the design phase of product development is important to business strategy

Designers have one of the best jobs in the world. It’s fun, it’s creative, it’s challenging. Yet, it’s also an extremely important element in the production process, which can put designers under a lot of pressure. 

The design phase of product or part development has quickly become essential to an organisation’s strategy. The effectiveness and efficiency of the design phase can have a significant impact on processes such as manufacturing that occur downstream in the product development process.

As an essential part of the production process, there are a few ways that design fits into an organisation’s strategy.