How the Automotive Industry Can Drive Resilience in Extraordinary Times

The automotive industry is in an era where change comes at unprecedented speed and volume. It’s become more crucial than ever for companies to build resilience and prepare their operations for all eventualities.

In these extraordinary times, digitalization is the enabler for resilience in the industry. It allows companies to integrate their processes on a cloud-based digital platform to achieve agility and flexibility in automotive product development and manufacturing.

Given the disruptive landscape and new requirements for social distancing, companies need to consider how physical premises may not always be accessible.

A key driver of resilience is the ability to work remotely and flexibly in order to leverage talents anywhere and make automotive product development possible anytime. Supported by the integrated digital platform, stakeholders can access a secure environment to collaborate on the most up-to-date version of vehicle development. This results in accelerated cycle times and fewer late changes.

When it comes to automotive testing, larger automotive companies used to rely primarily on wind tunnels and physical labs. Today, technological advances have made powerful virtual simulation tools more affordable and accessible to companies of all sizes.

When virtual simulation tools are available on the same integrated digital platform, engineers can predict a vehicle’s performance by simulating a multitude of conditions and requirements. This boosts companies’ resilience as testing processes become more cost-efficient with minimal need for physical prototypes and costly test facilities.

Meanwhile, digital automotive manufacturing capabilities help companies ramp up their production while respecting social distancing and ergonomic needs at the plants. Equipped with full planning visibility through the integrated digital platform, companies can respond swiftly to disruptive events. Pre-planning for disruption is now within grasp, thanks to proactive digital models that minimize production complications down the line.

The platform further supports resilient manufacturing by providing companies with the ability to model and plan their operations with the right digital twin technology. Our 3DEXPERIENCE Twin, for example, serves as an accurate underlying model of the operations and facilitates what-if experimentation in the virtual factory. As a result, companies can be agile in evaluating the impact of different decisions before implementing new configurations with confidence.

The 3DEXPERIENCE platform on the cloud paves the way for digitalized operations for automotive companies to be resilient and to empower their teams to produce high-quality output — even in unpredictable times.

By integrating automotive processes and providing a complete suite of industry-leading applications, our platform gives companies the power to:

• Co-engineer innovative vehicles anywhere, anytime
• Virtually test vehicles for performance, cost efficiency and optimal results
• Ramp up production in a safe, agile and productive workplace

Watch the replay of 'DRIVING RESILIENCE IN AUTOMOTIVE & TRANSPORTATION' special event