CRF has the responsibility, in collaboration with Elasis, of the methodologies development for the whole FIAT Group (Fiat Group Automobiles, IVECO, Case New Holland, Magneti Marelli, Fiat Powertrain). To enable this, the FIAT Group Methodologies are centralized and organized in a Master Plan with the following rules:
- develop only the methodologies that are not available on the market;
- perform a robust benchmarking to check the state of the art, before starting new developments;
- avoid the duplication of the same methodology development among the FIAT Group Sectors;
- share objectives and common efforts with the Sectors on new developments.
The Master Plan aims to:
- simulate, in the Virtual Environment, the whole development process (design, engineering and manufacturing) of a new product in order to reduce the development risks;
- evaluate the performances of the new product (Digital Mock-Up) and the related process (Digital Factoring) directly in the Virtual Environment, while reducing the construction of prototypes (Physical Mock-Ups) for components, systems and vehicles.
The use of the Virual Environment allows project managers to quickly organize “design review” sessions, involving both partners and supplier in the development even remotely located.
There is also a better communication process among all the participants to the product development process bringing to a more reliable project.