IBM and Dassault Systèmes have revealed BMW's use of a single digital software environment for the design of all BMW engines across its fuel and diesel-powered cars, motorcycles, and its newest line of eco-friendly, hybrid cars.
With the use of CATIA software, a 3D virtual design platform, engineers can consolidate design environments and create a single reference model for the design of all future BMW engines. IBM and Dassault PLM experts have helped the automaker to harmonise and consolidate all mechanical design initiatives into a single digital infrastructure that provides the latest technologies to aid in the software simulation, calculation and testing of new engine models.
As industrial sector companies intensify efforts to deliver increased value to customers, they are using smart technology to help deliver a new class of products. For example, working with IBM and Dassault Systèmes, BMW has developed a series of software design initiatives aimed at equipping new cars with fuel-saving technologies. From designing smaller engines to increasing piston and cylinder performance for better ignition and fuel performance, product lifecycle management software continues to play a key role in the intelligent design of new products.
In the past, aerodynamicists, physicists, and product engineers relied on CAD geometry and manual changes to create new design models. With CATIA's, product designers can create multiple engineering applications that significantly enhance a manufacturer's ability to digitally share master versions of an engine or a gear-box design. The use of one digital reference model that can be updated and shared instantly across the globe helps BMW respond quickly to consumer changes prior to signing off on production and shipment plans. The time span required for designing and shipping new cars has been cut in half through the use of these new digital technologies.
Using CATIA software, BMW has shipped 22 new cars with engines that produce fewer than 140g of carbon dioxide per kilometre, an achievement that meets the goals set by Kyoto Protocol participants in 1992, as part of an international treaty on climate change to reduce greenhouse gas emissions globally.
