Who
are the winners?
Caterpillar Inc. received NCSA's top corporate honor for its use of virtual reality and HPCC to design some of its best-selling machines. The Grand Challenge Award--to recognize breakthrough research resulting from an NCSA partnership--was presented to Caterpillar at the Fifth Annual Executive Meeting of NCSA's Industrial Partners in May 1993.
"Caterpillar's research work on this project is very significant because of the improvement to their design process," says John Stevenson, NCSA's corporate officer and head of the Industrial Program. "This will help improve the company's ability to compete globally."
Through virtual reality, engineering blueprints become 3D, allowing engineers to see how their designs will work in a seemingly real world. Hundreds of thousands of mathematical computations are almost instantaneously translated into a simulated environment that the operator can "see" by wearing a special helmet.
This year's award recognizes the efforts of design engineers Dave Stevenson of the Wheel Loader and Excavator Business Unit, Aurora, IL, and John Bettner of the Building Construction Products Division, Clayton, NC.
"This technology allows us to dramatically shorten the amount of time it takes to analyze a new design concept and incorporate it into our production process," says Dave Stevenson. "It also represents a sizable cost savings because we are not having to build prototype machines or make last-minute design changes." Design engineer Stevenson says that when Caterpillar researchers relied on conventional design methods, they spent from six to nine months building full-scale models and evaluating design changes. With virtual reality, multiple design options often can be evaluated in less than a month.
A number of design options already have been tested for new models of Caterpillar wheel loaders and backhoe loaders that will be introduced by 1996. The company also plans to eventually allow customers to "field test" new product designs using virtual reality technology.
AT&T, Dow Chemical Co., Eastman Kodak Co., Eli Lilly & Co., FMC, J. P. Morgan, Motorola Inc., Phillips Petroleum Co., Schlumberger, and United Technologies Corp. are NCSA's other partners.
NCSA established the annual Industrial Grand Challenge Award last year to recognize corporations who accomplish breakthrough research through their NCSA partnership to improve product development and quality.
