Ford is using virtual technology similar to online 3D games to improve the quality of its vehicles.
Ford Motor Co. top executives constantly talk about “One Ford” and how it important it is to the company’s future. In the past, the concept has referenced everything from employee morale to commonizing components.
Now the company has a new meaning for it: 3D ultra-high-definition technology used by engineers and designers around the globe.
Ford engineers on different continents are using a virtual reality space to collect input from designers and engineers around the world. The objective is to use the high-definition technology to improve quality before vehicles reach the prototype stage in vehicle development.
“We now have Ford designers and engineers around the world working together virtually – inside and side-by-side – on the same product,” said Elizabeth Baron, Ford virtual reality and advanced visualization technical specialist. “By using this technology, designers and engineers can quickly transition from one car design proposal to another, and they can study and identify which is the best option.”
Ford is the first automaker to use ultra-high-definition technology globally in the design and engineering development of its vehicles.
The product development space used by Ford has adapted some of the technology used for popular online 3D games to allow the company’s engineers and designers to experience a vehicle the way a consumer would in a showroom. This virtual space allows them to create visuals almost indistinguishable from a real car and leads to better quality and craftsmanship, Baron said.
The technology is already paying dividends. It was used during the development of the new Ford Fusion to ensure the placement of the side-view mirror was set for optimal visibility. It allowed them to makes changes without impacting the design of the car. Engineers used the same technology to maximize rear without losing style using an ultrathin LED center brake light.
Ford's new ultra-high-definition "power wall" has four times the resolution of a normal high-def television.
On the all-new Ford Mustang, craftsmanship engineers changed the fit and finish of Mustang’s dashboard and windshield wipers. The initial image revealed that the wipers were seen when not in use. By changing a few parts, they were able to hide them giving the car a cleaner look.
So far this year, designers and engineers have checked more than 135,000 details on 193 virtual vehicle prototypes built in the Immersion Lab – a feat that would have been impossible a few years ago.
Baron said as the company grows its global lineup of vehicles, the ability to connect everyone involved in the design of a vehicle in real time as well as virtual space will deliver improved vehicle quality and, by extension, happier customers.
There is an additional benefit: time savings. The virtual engineering lab helps shave seven to 12 months off from initial design work to vehicle launch, according to Ford.
(Ford plans to introduce 23 models, add 5,000 jobs in 2014. For more, Click Here.)
The addition of an ultra-high-definition “powerwall” display screen to the Immersion Lab and other Ford facilities around the world is making this technology a global reality. The screen – four times the resolution of a high-definition television – enables Ford designers and engineers to evaluate and review 3D models of vehicles in real time globally as well as study how various structural, mechanical and electrical systems interact.
Ford has virtual labs around the world. In addition to an Australia facility, collaboration centers in Germany, China, India and Brazil opened in 2012 while another center opened in Mexico this year.
(Click Here to see more on Alan Mulally’s plans.)
The Immersion Lab, which began in 2006, was instituted to allow Ford designers and engineers to test various styling, craftsmanship and ergonomic options to make improvements to new vehicle design without resorting to expensive and time-intensive physical models.