Sharing CAE Responsibilities Between OEM & Suppliers: Emerging Issues

Automotive industry observers note that a transformation is occurring where automotive OEMs are delegating more responsibilities to their suppliers. Instead of purchasing individual components, the OEMs are purchasing sub-assemblies. The suppliers are expected to do their own engineering. Many in the CAE community realize that there are many challenges to be faced in coordinating CAE activities between automotive OEMs and suppliers. This paper will not answer all of the issues and challenges, but will summarize what the issues are and what technologies and expertise will be deployed to help resolve the issues. The new product development landscape includes a new concept the concept of competition between OEM and supplier as to which organization takes on which portions of the product development process. The engineering group with the best business proposition will get the work. Engineering groups must be more business-minded in order to be able to compete in this new landscape.