Multidisciplinary Equipment Design

Multidisciplinary equipment in the field

Many of the new technologies that are disrupting heavy equipment industries, including innovative digital capabilities and electrification, lead to greater interactions between mechanical design, electronical and electronic systems design, and software. To achieve business success, manufacturers must find an effective way to deal with such multidisciplinary equipment design. But often, the way their organization grew over time, led them to have many disconnected teams, working in silos. Because of the complexity of multidisciplinary equipment design, this will result in endless iterations.

Siemens helps heavy equipment manufacturers accomplish complex multidisciplinary equipment design much faster by delivering an integrated and collaborative design environment where mechanical design, electronical and electric systems design, and software development can happen simultaneously. By following such a multidisciplinary equipment design approach, heavy equipment manufacturers can have all stakeholders collaborate in common tools and workflows, so that they have access to comprehensive multidisciplinary models and shared data. This will help them effectively master the complexity of multidisciplinary equipment design.

Many of the new technologies that are disrupting heavy equipment industries, including innovative digital capabilities and electrification, lead to greater interactions between mechanical design, electronical and electronic systems design, and software. To achieve business success, manufacturers must find an effective way to deal with such multidisciplinary equipment design. But often, the way their organization grew over time, led them to have many disconnected teams, working in silos. Because of the complexity of multidisciplinary equipment design, this will result in endless iterations.

Siemens helps heavy equipment manufacturers accomplish complex multidisciplinary equipment design much faster by delivering an integrated and collaborative design environment where mechanical design, electronical and electric systems design, and software development can happen simultaneously. By following such a multidisciplinary equipment design approach, heavy equipment manufacturers can have all stakeholders collaborate in common tools and workflows, so that they have access to comprehensive multidisciplinary models and shared data. This will help them effectively master the complexity of multidisciplinary equipment design.

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Speed up multidisciplinary equipment design by removing silos

As the teams for mechanical design, electrical and electronics systems design, and software development have so many interdependencies, their activities should not happen in separate tracks. Unfortunately, at many OEMs, this is the case, as a result of the way their organization evolved over time. Various departments are responsible for different disciplines and use disconnected tools and methods. Data exchange often happens via manual processes that are error-prone. To avoid that multidisciplinary equipment design will get stuck in endless iterations and rework, it is necessary to remove those silos by deploying an integrated environment that fosters collaboration between all multidisciplinary equipment design stakeholders, including other divisions if necessary and even suppliers. This collaboration can go from simply sharing their data to fully coupling their applications and will significantly speed up the overall multidisciplinary equipment design.

Build a comprehensive digital twin for multidisciplinary equipment design

Multidisciplinary equipment design involves numerous parameters that interact. To master the complexity this entails, it is necessary to take control from the very beginning. Already during the concept phase, design teams must start with multidisciplinary analysis using comprehensive multidisciplinary equipment design models. Those won’t be perfect. But they will help to outline the boundaries for all the variables so that during all stages that come later in the process, there is a better starting point for optimization. As the design cycle moves on, the same models must be improved with up-to-date information and more details. This approach comes down to creating a digital twin for multidisciplinary equipment design - a virtual representation that mimics the product as good as possible in its current state, and that always stays in-sync. It is a single source of truth for all multidisciplinary design stakeholders.

Frontload decisions during multidisciplinary equipment design

Tactics like removing silos and building a digital twin will automatically unlock opportunities to frontload multidisciplinary equipment design decisions, or to shift left. That is important, because as the design process progresses, the opportunities to make changes become scarcer while to cost of implementing them explodes. This to a point where, depending on the magnitude of the required change, it could cancel the entire project. Via the digital twin, there is visibility on all decisions that are being taken by all design stakeholders. And also, when design stakeholders evaluate their decisions using comprehensive multidisciplinary models, they automatically take the wider context into consideration. Both will help to catch issues earlier. Besides, more frontloading can be achieved if silos are removed across departments. A good example is making CAE tools available through the CAD environment. In this way, analysts and occasional users get access to expert solutions, giving them the tools at hand to contribute to decisions that are otherwise taken at later stages.

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Solution capabilities

3D Design Validation

Our products deliver visual product analytics and validation tools that enable you to quickly synthesize information, check designs for compliance to requirements, and make informed decisions.

Design Interoperability

It’s no secret that products today are increasingly complex with many, if not most, reliant on integrated electronics. It is critical that designers of both systems collaborate throughout the development process in order to prevent conflicts and ensure alignment between each system prior to design completion.

E/E Data Management & Integrations

Manage data, control processes, and use integrations to provide a comprehensive development flow. Manage changes and configurations, both between domains within the product development process and with all major MCAD and PLM tools.

E/E Systems Definition & Optimization

Balance against targets such as cost, weight, and network bandwidth. Define and consolidate functions. Create and analyze electrical, electronic, embedded software, and network specifications.

Electrical Systems Engineering

Design and simulate electrical distribution systems with interactive logical system and wiring design, as well as automated generative engineering. Integrate and verify electrical system implementations. Optimize electrical complexity, use live metrics, and advanced design rule checks to analyze electrical systems.

Embedded Software Architecture Design

Effectively design, test, and deploy on-board software by following a model-based approach in a common environment for system and software engineers. Develop accurate, verified software architectures. Design, simulate, implement, and verify software components. Create 'software contracts' to improve downstream software quality.

Harness Design & Engineering

Design, engineer, and verify electrical harnesses for manufacture. Optimize harness costing, manufacturing, and assembly processes to boost performance, throughput and profitability. Develop accurate and optimized harness manufacturing documentation to increase efficiency.

Knowledge Reuse

Our products provide comprehensive knowledge reuse solutions that enable your company to accelerate product designs and reduce cost. Our solutions maximize the value of your product knowledge by helping you leverage it again and again.

Mechanical Design Management

Teamcenter brings together all your mechanical computer-aided design (MCAD) data in a single product data management (PDM) environment to improve engineering productivity. Whether your company uses one or more MCAD tools, you can easily find parts and assemblies created in other tools within your preferred MCAD environment, then modify and incorporate them into multi-CAD assemblies or product designs. You can automate engineering change, validation and approval processes to speed cycle time and improve product quality.