Nissan Diesel slashes 90% off design cycles

Trucks and buses manufacturer Nissan Diesel has cut 90% off the cycle time for the critical processes involved in creating truck layouts, following development of a vehicle configuration management system using its PDM (product data management) system. The firm has been using IBM’s product data management system Enovia DMU (digital mock-up) essentially to detect errors in the early stages of production planning by simulating manufacturing processes, thus driving most of the efficiency. Nissan Diesel also says that Enovia has allowed it to greatly improve communication between its design and production technology divisions. The company originally harnessed DMU Navigator in 2000 to seamlessly manage and connect truck component data as vehicles pass through their development lifecycles from design to manufacturing. Trucks involves more components and more complex assembly combinations than cars, and hence the requirement. “Building a system capable of managing the amount data involved in the layout of an entire truck requires a considerable amount of time and energy,” says Osamu Mitsuhashi, manager, information systems planning, Nissan Diesel. “Thanks to this system, the communication between our design and production technology divisions has improved. We expect our vehicle configuration management system, based on PLM solutions, to save development costs.”