Toyota forges ahead

Global automotive manufacturing giant, Toyota Motor Company, has chosen MSC Software’s simulation tool – MSC.SuperForge - to guide the design of its forging processes. The new software will give Toyota engineers the ability to simulate forging processes on their own desktop PCs without the need for costly shopfloor testing, leading to design and manufacturing costs. “[The software] gives Toyota production engineers a fast and easy to use technology to simulate forging processes and determine process design directions with less physical testing,” said Tadao Akashi, production engineering planning and development manager at Toyota. MSC.SuperForge enables the user to investigate the effects of changing process parameters such as shape, temperature and friction variations on the forging process, reducing the amount of ‘trial and error’ physical prototyping.