For Release: March 8, 2001
GM to Commercialize dieCAS Software Technology through Technalysis, Inc.
In Move to Further Reduce Costs and Improve Quality of Castings by Suppliers
Warren, Mich. -- General Motors announced it will commercialize its dieCAS
computer software that analyzes die casting processes at least 10 times
faster than similar commercial applications.
GM has granted a license to Technalysis, Inc. for exclusive rights to
develop, market and support a commercial version of its dieCAS software.
Terms were not disclosed.
Developed by GM Research and Development with assistance from EDS, dieCAS
(for die Casting Analysis System), is a workstation-based CAE (Computer
Aided Engineering) product that has saved GM more than $8 million annually.
Since 1990, it has been used to reduce scrap and improve productivity in GM
Powertrain’s die casting operations for transmission cases and engine
blocks.
"By commercializing dieCAS, we will provide improvements in the cost and
quality of castings, including non-powertrain applications, that are
purchased from our suppliers," explained Gary McDonald, director of the
Enterprise Systems Lab at the GM Research and Development Center.
"Furthermore, under the agreement, GM can continue to use dieCAS for its own
casting operations at a reduced cost by spreading the costs of software
maintenance over a wider number of users."
According to McDonald, GM selected the Indianapolis-based Technalysis
because it was an established company with experience in manufacturing
analysis software, engineering analysis services and specialty casting.
"As an engineering consulting and software development company for over 15
years, our business has been to provide packaged and customized CAE
software, software consulting, and engineering consulting in fluid
mechanics, heat transfer, and materials for product/process modeling and
design," said Akin Ecer, president of Technalysis. "We’re very excited about
our association with GM and the future prospects for commercial dieCAS
application."
dieCAS goes well beyond the scope of traditional casting analysis to address
a wide variety of product and process problems, many of which are unique to
die casting, according to Alan Steffe, manufacturing engineering director
for castings at GM Powertrain. "Unlike other general purpose casting
analysis products, dieCAS is specialized to die casting," said Steffe.
"As a result, it takes advantage of die casting’s unique characteristics and
achieves enormous savings in analysis time, without sacrificing solution
accuracy." Steffe added that dieCAS has shortened process development time
up to one year for large powertrain castings by eliminating trial and error
with physical hardware.
The scope of the dieCAS analysis includes heat transfer and solidification,
liquid metal flow, and casting and die distortion.
The combination of analysis speed and ease of use make dieCAS ideally suited
to a design environment, where many different process alternatives must be
investigated in a short period of time. Nearly all results are available in
about an hour, even on very large dies.
dieCAS is the only CAE product to offer analysis of the entire die and
machine, including the nonlinear contact problem at the uneven parting
surfaces between die components, GM R&D’s McDonald said. He added that
dieCAS’s broad spectrum of analysis provides valuable insight into the
causes and potential remedies for a wide variety of common die casting
problems.
GM’s increased usage of math models, such as dieCAS, is helping the company
to cut costs and shorten product development times by allowing validation
simulations and reducing reliance on physical hardware for testing and
evaluation. As a result, GM currently has three vehicle programs in an
18-month development cycle and another 25 vehicle programs in a 24-month
development cycle, down from 33 months three years ago. The company so far
has saved $1 billion in development costs.