DS PLM SUCCESS STORY

Richard Petty Speeds new designs to the track 50% faster with Dassault Systèmes PLM

Overview

Challenge An engineering-centric Management (PLM), including CATIA, To achieve excellence through philosophy ENOVIA SmarTeam and DELMIA, is an engineering, NASCAR team In the competitive world of NASCAR important part of our win-through- Motorsports needed racing, the difference between fi rst and engineering strategy.” a full suite of powerful 3D tools for last place is only fractions of a second virtual design, engineering and The Petty organization owns 268 Sprint manufacturing per lap. Even minor improvements in the race car can make the difference at the Cup victories since its fi rst race in fi nish line. But these improvements must 1949, while Gillett Evernham Solution be made at lightning speed, so there is Motorsports tallied 15 victories since The team chose CATIA, ENOVIA no time for trial and error in the shop. 2001, when the team ushered in SmarTeam and DELMIA for their ’s return to NASCAR under the engineering power, fl exibility and leadership of . Richard collaborative capabilities Offi cials at Richard Petty Motorsports therefore believe mechanical prowess, Petty Motorsports, owned by George the sport’s traditional source of Gillett and Richard Petty, has four Benefi ts advantage, is being surpassed by Sprint Cup teams, with drivers Kasey Richard Petty Motorsports can engineering excellence. The company, Kahne, , quickly respond to NASCAR rule created in 2008 from two of NASCAR’s and AJ Allmendinger and world-class changes, exploit simulation and sponsors that include Budweiser, analysis to maximize performance, most successful teams – Gillett program production robots and cut Evernham Motorsports and Petty Stanley Tools, Best Buy, Allstate, cycle times by as much as 50% Holdings – is one of the sport’s most McDonald’s and the US Air Force. engineering-centric organizations. An integrated solution for an “I have an ‘open wheel’ mindset that integrated strategy constantly pushes our teams, whether In NASCAR, the need for speed on the racing or engineering, to go further, race track is rivaled only by the need faster, with better technology,” says for speed in engineering. Kellen Brown, Mark McArdle, vice president and senior project engineer at Richard Petty managing director of competition for Motorsports, says the engine “Dassault Systèmes PLM, Richard Petty Motorsports. “Dassault development team turns out a minimum including CATIA, ENOVIA Systèmes Product Lifecycle of ten engines each week. Body SmarTeam and DELMIA, is an important part of our win- through-engineering strategy.”

Mark McArdle, Vice President and Managing Director of Competition, Richard Petty Motorsports confi gurations change rapidly, too, heart of most of the benefi ts. For predictable stiffness and mass, instead of model we actually designed,” says Kelton lasting no more than two months each. example, the design of one critical only getting a feel for how they’ll perform Sprinkle, the team’s design/manufacturing “The only certainty in our sport is valve train component is frequently for the fi rst time on the test benches.” engineer. “Accuracy just doesn’t get much change – and it’s fast, it’s real time,” tweaked to improve performance, with better. There’s no chance that things get says Tommy Wheeler, director of 58 unique designs developed to date Oliver believes other teams rely more ‘lost in translation.’” engineering services. from a single base design. Reusing on “cut and try.” Although necessity “CATIA is the way we work. analysis cases, the new designs are demands they be good at it, Oliver is The team also relies on ENOVIA “With DELMIA Robotics, all We’re cutting about 50% off The team chose CATIA and ENOVIA quickly looped through analysis, confi dent Richard Petty Motorsports is SmarTeam to track its ongoing design reconfi guring and iterations can our development time.” SmarTeam in 2002 to replace a revision and reanalysis until target moving forward faster, more projects. “Every design idea gets be done in a virtual environment, mismatched set of engineering tools that structural parameters are met. Existing intelligently, and at less cost with the documented, and we create a where the only investment is the Steve Oliver, Deputy Technical could not keep pace. Richard Petty machining and processing data is then virtual analysis capabilities of FEA. statement of work that is logged in software operator’s time. We Director of Design & Engineering, Motorsports now uses CATIA for virtual updated in seconds. When components ENOVIA SmarTeam as a searchable have cut our programming time Richard Petty Motorsports 3D modeling of every aspect of car are designed in the context of a total Knowing what you know entity,” Kominek says. “This helps us tie by 40-50%.” development and production, from assembly, fi t and function are achieved The use of CATIA also carries over to everything together and effi ciently engine and car design to tooling and with minimal prototyping and mockup, manufacturing, Oliver says. “The assign projects to designers.” Kelton Sprinkle, Design/Manufacturing manufacturing. ENOVIA SmarTeam saving substantial time and money. designs of all the accessory components Engineer, Richard Petty Motorsports intelligently stores and tracks all of the that are now manufactured in house, Before ENOVIA SmarTeam, the team’s CATIA product designs and Seamless integration of Dassault and a lot that are manufactured outside, organization lacked a strong process related engineering data for quick access Systèmes’ suite of solutions makes all the are based on CATIA models.” for prioritizing design and engineering and reuse, enhancing Richard Petty difference, Oliver says. “Staying in one projects. “When you don’t have visibility Motorsports’ ability to iterate from existing user interface for design, analysis and CATIA also captures critical knowledge into all of your projects, you end up designs and freeing time for innovation. manufacturing really is a huge productivity gained on the shop fl oor. “One of the putting out fi res and doing seat-of-your- gain. We just couldn’t imagine going back big reasons we chose CATIA is that it pants design work to solve problems,” In 2008, the team stepped up its to any other kind of system.” allows you to do CNC programming Kominek says. “When you’re in pure capabilities with the addition of DELMIA within the same software we use for reaction mode, you’re not doing Robotics as its 3D welding simulation Because Richard Petty Motorsports’ design and engineering,” Design development work that puts speed in solution. DELMIA allows the team to automotive OEM sponsor Dodge also Manager Eric Kominek says. “Before the car. With ENOVIA SmarTeam, we capture best practices and automate the uses CATIA, its models are CATIA, if we had to make changes on can rank and track projects. We can repetitive work of robot programming, immediately usable when they arrive at the shop fl oor we didn’t have a way to see and ensure that people are doing accelerating the speed at which it the team’s shop. “There’s no translation reverse engineer and that knowledge the right things – things that will move moves new designs onto the track. required,” Oliver says. “They’re fully would be lost. Now, that’s all captured the team forward.” functional models, and I think we’re one automatically in real time.” CATIA: Where engineering of the only teams that can really excellence begins leverage that. Other teams are Once a part has been designed, getting Steve Oliver, deputy technical director transferring data to other systems, it to manufacturing is simple and of Design & Engineering, says his team which involves translation time or effi cient. With ENOVIA SmarTeam’s designs nearly all of the components of broken data, or limits use.” built-in revision control and a new engine using CATIA – right down management, everyone on the Richard to nuts, bolts and o-rings. “We’re using Almost every critical component is Petty Motorsports team is assured of it to be sure we have good fi ts and analyzed with CATIA’s Finite Element having the most current, up-to-date good documentation of all the Analysis (FEA) module, helping ensure copy of part drawings. components. CATIA is cutting about top, safe performance with minimum 50% off our development time.” weight. “When we test with FEA, we “When we save a design model in have a better understanding of what a ENOVIA SmarTeam, the machine shop The savings come in many forms, but part is capable of,” Oliver says. “We can can pull that same part fi le into their knowledge capture and re-use is at the go into an engine test with a very software and create tool paths on the The pace of change demands best-in- our motion ratios and sizes, and know class PLM solutions like ENOVIA it’s going to work dimensionally before SmarTeam. “Things evolve so quickly we ever machine the fi rst piece.” that sometimes we can’t remember what we know,” Wheeler says. “Sometimes, Virtual modeling eliminates scrap and we literally have to search our past re-machining of parts while avoiding experiences and look at past results in a time-consuming reprogramming. “No “What fuels our success is new light to create a new development machinist time is wasted, and no CNC time-to-market and doing it for path. It’s all an evolution – and that’s time is used,” Sprinkle says. “All the best cost we can, so that where ENOVIA SmarTeam really shines.” reconfi guring and iterations can be we can iterate more times and done in the virtual environment, where bring on more products. DS Perhaps nowhere is visibility more the only investment is the software PLM is an irreplaceable part important than in aerodynamic testing with operator’s time.” of that success.” computational fl uid dynamics (CFD), says Chris Woodward, CFD program manager. The ability to create a program in Tommy Wheeler, Director of Engineering “The only way to be sure what we’re testing DELMIA Robotics and then download it Services, Richard Petty Motorsports is an accurate refl ection of what’s being to the robot, versus manually used on the racetrack is through good PLM programming the robot, is another programs,” he says. “For Richard Petty notable savings. For a 100-step program, Motorsports, CATIA and ENOVIA it can take ten hours to physically teach, SmarTeam have ensured that there is tweak, maneuver, and adjust the robot. excellent continuity between the design Utilizing DELMIA Robotics, Sprinkle and simulation environment and the estimates programming time has been that we build and race every weekend.” cut 40-50%, and could increase to 60% by the time Richard Petty Motorsports realizes all of the software’s capabilities. DELMIA makes robotic control a snap – virtually The nuts and bolts Richard Petty Motorsports also is “The reality is we compete against a lot moving forward using DELMIA’s robotic of race teams that are probably equal simulation capabilities to save time and to us in terms of talent,” Wheeler says. cut costs in the design of welding “What it comes down to is this: the one fi xtures. DELMIA allows the team to who makes the best choices and does program its robots virtually and it in the least amount of time wins.” visualize their motion to check for collisions or space restrictions before To have a company on the Richard anything is built in the physical world. Petty Motorsports team like Dassault Systèmes, which leads in its area of “Before we machine a fi xture or work expertise, makes a difference at the on a holding part, we can simulate the fi nish line, Wheeler says. “We design tool path of the welder and avoid any race cars, not software and code. interference issues,” Sprinkle says. Knowing Dassault Systèmes is far out “We can try a new part, check the fi t, in front of us in terms of developing its change the design on the fl y, check all product offering gives us confi dence.”

Dassault Systèmes 10, rue Marcel Dassault 78140 Vélizy-Villacoublay, France Tel: +33 (0) 1 61 62 61 62

SolidWorks®, CATIA®, DELMIA®, ENOVIA®, Images and Logo © 2009 Richard Petty For more information or to SIMULIA® and 3D VIA® are registered Motorsports contact a sales representative, trademarks of Dassault Systèmes or its © Copyright Dassault Systèmes 2009. visit www.3ds.com/contacts subsidiaries in the US and/or other countries. All Rights Reserved. RF_F_QTB1V_EN_200902 For more information on Richard Petty Motorsports, visit www.richardpettymotorsports.com