The new Bentley, the 200,000 £ Mulsanne, will be Bentley’s first foray into fully digital modeling and design as the car was entirely modeled in Dassault Systemes PLM software before a single bolt was ordered. It was done as part of an initiative to reduce physical revisions which take a lot of time and money to fabricate, only to find minor glitches requiring extensive rework. Working in the digital space had other advantages such as working better with a distributed team (it’s alot easier to email model files than ship physical parts), as well as providing extensive product lifecycle management functions.
Ian Swann, who was in charge of the virtual build, said it changed the way people worked, not least because it prompted Bentley to spend €27m on new kit and to revise its factory layout so that there was less physical distance between the different teams. This physical proximity has improved communication between the teams.
“We had a lot of review meetings,” he said. “At first the production guys were sceptical, but when they saw that it was going to make their lives easier, they jumped in.”
Watch the video below showing the Dassault model of one of the headlight assemblies.
via Bentley unveils first fully 3D car – 05/07/2010 – Computer Weekly.
