Bentley speeds through Le Mans challenge

Benefits Lead times dramatically reduced across development and production Seamless end-to-end electronic processes Role-based, real-time information provided for all users Instant, realistic visualisation of all track operating environments As with all car racing teams, every year sees a new machine, designed, developed, manufactured and assembled at brake neck pace. The car may look similar to last year’s but it isn’t. That’s certainly true of the Bentley EXP Speed 8, and Racing Technology Norfolk (rtn), on the outskirts of Norwich, needs all the help in get. Says rtn operations director Hiroshi Fushida, “Pro/Engineer helped save time and enabled us to work to far higher tolerances... Now, we use a CNC five-axis router to create a 3D sculpture of the part as a pattern. The machine works with design data derived directly from Pro/Engineer… We use PTC to deliver a seamless end product through a seamless process, by which data from the designer’s workstation arrives directly at the cutting tool head.” In this environment, 2D drawings are no longer enough: designing in 3D is a necessity. And it’s not just the body that relies on Pro/Engineer: everything, including the V8 engine, is designed and evaluated before manufacture using PTC software. And then there’s production: “From a manufacturing standpoint, Pro/Engineer is very good,” says manufacturing engineer Ki Wong. “Pro/Engineer affords us the flexibility we need. The ability we have to send machining data from a designer’s workstation direct to the CNC router means lead times have been reduced dramatically.” And it’s not just about design data: 3D drawings of part and assembly instructions are included in the folder squirted down to the shopfloor. So the router operative gets information that tells him where the tool head should be as it works the material, and Pro/Engineer data is also used to generate assembly information and instructions. Pro/Manufacturing also works with rtn’s five-axis router, enabling Wong to react quickly to inevitable design changes. He creates a tool path over the top of the designer’s Pro/Engineer data, so a change in the design surface doesn’t mean drama on the shopfloor. Beyond that, Chris Sumner, rtn design engineer, uses Pro/Mechanica to visualise how components and sub-assemblies will behave in motion. “The design extension enables us to do far more than just design a part or subassembly. We can instantly see how a part functions. As well as working towards a perfect profile for the car, visible to all, we can design from the ground up to the bodywork.” “Pro/Mechanica allows design tweaks to be made on-screen. It can also deliver graphical data to demonstrate the amount of movement of a given part or sub assembly under different conditions. Being able to calculate angles, and visualise the complexities of front suspension systems and the like under different loads and at different road speeds, is notoriously difficult using 2D design tools,” says Sumner.