Abstract
Today's global marketplace no longer allows compromises neither in engine performance nor in price - to remain competitive OEM's need products to be excellent in both respects.
As a first step an analysis of the market is needed to assess the legislative and customer requirements. The technical specifications are then tailored to these needs achieving all of the targets, avoiding however to over-engineer the engine to meet the cost target as well.
AVL routinely applies intensive simulation and analysis from the concept design stage on, to support the design and development of a new, or the improvement of an existing powertrain. This “front loading” has proven to shorten development time and budget and, even more importantly, ensures the development hardware to be "first time right".
Based on years of experience developing combustion engines, methodologies have matured to achieve the emission and performance targets without guess work. It is also important to apply the right technology - one which is accepted to be superior in one market is not necessarily the best in another.
For best fuel economy it is imperative to develop the engine with the transmission as a system. Nowadays, for emission compliance electronic control is key - the design of the control algorithm offers a big potential for improving fuel economy, both on-road and off-road.
Parallel to engine design and development, and starting from the first concept ideas, the production process and the plant layout are planned to ensure the best possible product quality at lowest cost. Supporting the "Design to Cost / Design for Manufacture", production time is shortened, production processes are more robust yielding higher product quality. With a "Continuous Improvement Process" established in series production, the product will be further improved to hold the leading competitive position.
Keywords: Market analysis, Simulation, Development methodology, Fuel economy, Powertrain, Emission compliance, Electronic control, Design to Cost, Design for Manufacture, Continuous Improvement Process