CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive

19 March 2009

Implementation Investments

Mentor Graphics Provides Innovative CHS Electrical Systems Design Tools for Truck OEM

Mentor Graphics Corporation announced the deployment of the CHS electrical systems design tool suite by a leading truck OEM. CHS is a fully integrated application suite for electrical system design, electrical analysis, system integration/wiring design and harness engineering. It has embedded data management capabilities (vehicle configuration management, workflow control, design comparison, etc). CHS is architected for large organizations (multi-user, multi-site) and includes substantial enterprise integration capabilities.

Electronic innovation is placing substantial demands on electrical systems design. Especially truck OEMs with strong requirements on variant management will benefit from significant efficiency gains by implementing common design environments, re-using design data, and consolidating component usage. Truck OEMs will also benefit from enhanced integration to suppliers via emerging data automotive standards such as KBL available within CHS.

One of Mentor Graphics Corporation’s customers is Daimler Trucks. Daimler Trucks deployed CHS electrical design software in Mercedes-Benz in Germany. CHS is also made available at Mitsubishi Fuso Trucks and Buses in Japan.

CHS modular construction will allow the two companies to employ different design flows, both supported by CHS to meet local project needs for engineering and consistent data management. Within a common CHS infrastructure in Germany the CHS interactive flow was used, while in Japan the CHS generative flow (which automates electrical system integration) has been implemented. Both groups operate a full system design to harness flow using Capital® Logic, Capital Integrator and Capital HarnessXC for the progressive design steps as applicable. Design data is now being exchanged with Daimler Trucks’ harness suppliers in Germany via KBL.

CHS software is now broadly deployed onto production projects in all major regions worldwide, in both automotive and aerospace applications. Martin O’Brien, general manager of Mentor’s Integrated Electrical Systems Division, said, “Commercial vehicles represent an important market segment for us as it has unique technical challenges that has helped extend the reach of our technology. For example, configuration complexity can be very high in the numerous commercial truck applications, so our software must be able to manage this complexity efficiently. We are delighted that Daimler Trucks is seeing good success with CHS and value our association with this leading team of engineers.”

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