CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive
9 December 2008
Product News
Mentor Graphics Announces Capital Architect, a New Tool for Dynamically Optimizing the Physical Architecture of Vehicle EDS Systems
Mentor Graphics Corporation announced the forthcoming availability of the Capital® Architect tool, the latest tool in the CHS™ product portfolio, a leading software suite for electrical system design. The Capital Architect tool is a graphical design tool that helps automotive OEMs and their suppliers minimize cost and/or weight of the electrical distribution system (EDS) by optimizing its physical architecture.
The Capital Architect tool offers companies rapid yet comprehensive analysis of multiple architectures. It is designed to assess the cost and weight impact of implementing the EDS in different ways regardless of design stage, including adding new electrical/electronic features to an existing vehicle.
The Capital Architect tool improves efficiency and productivity by making it possible to dynamically evaluate and compare multiple architectures. On-the-fly EDS synthesis allows many architectures and implementation strategies to be quantitatively assessed. Because the Capital Architect tool is able to synthesize composite EDS designs, it is also possible to evaluate the impact of option and variant strategies. The Capital Architect tool compares alternative architectural scenarios within ‘studies’ and allows the results of several scenarios to be presented both graphically and numerically. Study results can be exported to Microsoft Office documents for further analysis and reporting.
“Capital Architect provides capabilities long sought by our customers. The industry has, until now, lacked tools to rapidly evaluate the physical implementation of architectures, especially in the context of options and variants. Studies have therefore been limited in scope and have resulted in excess long term vehicle costs,” said Martin O’Brien, general manager for Mentor Graphics Integrated Electrical Systems Division. “The availability of Capital Architect is very timely as there is increased pressure on the automotive industry to reduce cost through management of electrical complexity, vehicle weight reduction and minimizing giveaways.”
Product Availability
First customer shipment of Capital Architect is scheduled for Q1 2009. For product information on the CHS platform, contact your Mentor Graphics sales representative, call 1-800-547-3000 or visit http://www.mentor.com/electrical.
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