Auto manufacture digitizes in depth

Automobile manufacture typifies one aspect of today's highly competitive, global economy. It is generally a large, distributed effort, spread out over several continents and involving thousands of engineers and technicians, whom digital technology is helping to work together. Only with this technology's aid can they hope to respond to competitive pressures by cutting costs and, more importantly, by shortening the design-to-manufacturing cycle for the new car models. The author considers how the integration of design and manufacturing software, coupled with the aggressive use of digital prototypes and virtual reality, is already helping auto makers cut costs as well as time-to-market.