Engineering design for better business event

For engineering business leaders wanting ideas and up-to-date knowledge on CAE technologies and virtual product design and development systems, the Altair Technology Conference on 2 November at the Heritage Motor Centre, Gaydon looks impressive. Altair says it will be much more than a user group meeting, with speakers considering the business impact of advances and the gains to be made by rethinking design processes. It will focus on the role of virtual design in reducing time to market, improving quality and achieving cost savings. Richard Parry Jones, group vice president and chief technical officer at Ford will give his experience, and Chris Wilkinson, engineering director at BAE Systems Aerostructures will discuss how high value engineering can be retained in the UK while working within the increasingly global supply chain. Other highlights promised include: Dave Wieloch of Ford, talking about how applying design optimisation software to one of many components has delivered multi-million dollar savings; Craig Johnson of Schlumberger, on using CAE to rapidly transfer the principles of stents from medical devices to massive sand screens for drilling; and Jerome Rousseau of Jaguar, on how it combined virtual design technologies to develop a new steering wheel. Go to www.uk.altair.com/conference or tel 024 7632 3600; email events@uk.altair.com