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Developed in the framework of the CATER IST Project. Supported by the European Commission.
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CATER is an initiative supported by the European Commission addressing networked business in the automotive field
- Enabling mass customization of vehicles
- Supporting personalisation of products to the explicit & emotional needs of clients
- Meeting the needs of customers, suppliers, sales, marketing & engineering team
- Benefiting to the whole industry stakeholders
NEW video: the CATER story - From "a" car to "my" car
NEW video: the CATER story - Choosing the right truck
CATER is an ambitious initiative launched in September 2006 by European
and Asian key players in the automotive field. The initiative aims at
reaching an integrated system for mass customisation of vehicles through
the use of dedicated and innovative ICT tools in the whole automotive
industry process. This initiative is supported by the European Commission
( DG
Information Society and Media) in the framework of the 6th
Research Program ( FP6).
The CATER project has been built upon a reliable and
comprehensive analysis of the automotive industry environment:
-
Automotive enterprises are becoming more and more customer-centric
to meet today’s challenging market demands
-
Few vehicle manufacturers have set-up mass customization systems
that would enable them to better answer customer needs and therefore
improve their competitive advantage and their business
-
The automotive industry has become highly networked but is still
impaired by a lack of improved communication mechanism on products
and components in its B2B relationships, in terms of customer needs
management through commonly understood semantics
Therefore, CATER aims at leveraging the market potential of automotive
companies through better use of ICT in the automotive industry.
CATER introduces systems and methodologies that go beyond the traditional approaches of automotive OEMs and in which design is driven by cross-cultural and emotional aspects of customer needs. This is enabled through integration of innovative ideas from diverse expertise of both Europe and Asia. In this way, CATER aims to facilitate business in the automotive industry, by bridging well-known gaps in the automotive ICT world of today, as well as gaps between Europe and Asia by integrating workable approaches from both regions.
CATER also advocates networked business in the automotive field, aiming at a better integration of stakeholders (from OEMs to customers) within the supply chain, to support product planners and designers; while the customers can design their own vehicle via a VR interface in a 3D Web environment.
To reach its objective of enhancing mass customization of vehicles, CATER will develop several tools:
- A semantic notation system, which will be used by the concurrent engineering team to address customers’ needs and wants.
- A novel engineering methodology, called citarasa, which involves elicitation of customer expertise and feeling in vehicle purchase, and mapping these to vehicle design by concurrent engineering team.
- A Do-it-Yourself Design (DIYD) system for vehicle design, which will include a customization database structure and functionality with exemplary product data for vehicle configuration and a web user interface for mass customization, to support the customer in vehicle configuration tasks, taking into account emotional and functional criteria.
- A low-cost Virtual Reality interface for vehicle mass customization, allowing a high-quality stereoscopic view of the product and its components, to facilitate the sales process.
- A retrieval “module” (MArk) to interface with automotive existing teardown database, enabling better product benchmark and development.
- An inter-linked database structure and software architecture based on the above mentioned components, which will support the N-business paradigm, taking into account the needs of all stakeholders in automotive N-business processes, namely vehicle buyers, sales point, market departments, design engineers, manufacturers, logistic chain, part suppliers.
Finally, a number of use cases will be defined to establish the framework for the technical and usability verification, based on most frequent user demands (from the marketing departments of OEM’s) and needs and each of them will simulate the overall service chain from a customer demand to the satisfaction of the order.
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To achieve the objectives, a consortium comprising 14 major European
and Asian organisations in the automotive and related industry fields
has been established, led by Fraunhofer IAO (Coordinator) and the Hellenic Institute of Transport of the National Center for Research and Technology of Greece (Technical Manager).
Please click on a consortium member for more information.
Fraunhofer IAO
Fraunhofer Gesellschaft is a non-profit applied research organisation
with 58 institutes in Germany, more than 10000 scientists and a turn-over
of about 1 billion Euro. The main purpose is technology transfer from
research into industrial application.The Fraunhofer Institute for
Industrial Engineering (FhG-IAO) focuses on technology management,
information technology, VR technology and ergonomics. FhG-IAO holds
various contacts to industry. FhG-IAO provides demonstration and research
centres which are requested by companies and SMEs of all branches.
Generally FhG has a strong interest in the exploitation of services
and products developed within the projects.
CERTH/HIT
CERTH is the Centre for Research and Technology Hellas, a leading
Research Institute, supervised by the Greek Ministry of Development.
HIT (Hellenic Institute of Transport) is one of the Institutes that
provide input for policy formulation, documentation of major trends
and impacts in the field of Transport, formulation of operational
rules and procedures, improvement of the operation and management
in the various Transport modes, etc. It possesses the required infrastructure,
so as to perform evaluation tests of prototype systems, which includes
a semi-dynamic driving simulator, a virtual reality laboratory and
an equipped research vehicle for on-road tests.
CERTH/ITI
ITI (Informatics & Telematics Institute) is another of CERTH's Institutes.
The ITI research group has long and very extensive experience in knowledge
technologies and their applications in the cultural, educational and
public administration sectors. Other research areas of ITI include:
multimedia and Internet technologies, educational and cultural technologies,
data communication and computer networks, identification and tracking
of semantic objects, content-based search and retrieval and virtual
and augmented reality.
Damaļ
Sciences
Damai Sciences is a leading human factors and engineering design company,
that was established in 2003 to provide consulting services in the
domains of human factors/ergonomics, human-computer interaction and
usability engineering. It has an international network of research
associates with varied expertise from product ergonomics, user interface
design, systems development, anthropometric database, mass customization
to virtual manufacturing. The core business of Damai Sciences encompasses:
- Consulting services in core competencies of human factors engineering,
industrial and office ergonomics, human-computer interaction,
usability and safety engineering.
- Research and Development (R&D) in emerging knowledge areas
from affective human factors design, knowledge management, reverse
engineering, virtual reality to mass customization.
- Human capital development through training and professional
course offerings in human factors engineering and human-computer
interaction.
- Knowledge communication in the form of published works.
- Community leadership at the local and international levels
and professional affiliations to human factors and related societies.
IC:IDO
IC:IDO (pronounced I see - I do) GmbH was founded in 2000 as a spin
off company of Fraunhofer IAO in Stuttgart, Germany. Among the founders
are scientists of IAO?s Competence Centre for Virtual Reality as well
as experienced sales and marketing managers. In February 2001 the
company received significant venture capital from 3i and BW venture.
IC:IDO focuses on highly user friendly and effective Virtual Reality
systems for industrial purposes. The systems are based on technology
and methods, which have been developed at IAO since 1992. The software
of IC:IDO has won several awards for its outstanding architecture
and its proven usability. Among IC:IDO's customers are three major
car manufacturers and an unusual amount of medium sized companies
who are using the company's unique Linux-cluster based Virtual Reality
technology.
COAT-Basel
COAT-Basel is part of the Department of Psychiatry at the University
of Basel, Switzerland. Apart from a electromagnetically shielded and
fully equipped neurophysiological laboratory COAT is the owner of
a fully immersive, stereoscopic Virtual Reality system /three-segmented
powerwall) for stimulus presentation (including auditory and visually
provoked Event-related Potentials (ERP) and real-time/online measurement
and analysis of neurophysiological as well as behavioral response
patterns of the respective users to this stimuli. Furthermore COAT-Basel
houses a semi-dynamic, full-car driving simulator which is equally
equipped as stated for the neurophysiological laboratory. Standing
staff of currently 11 people at the center is a multi-disciplinary
team consisting of experts in neurophysiology, psychology, psychiatry,
internal medicine, engineering (covering the areas if soft-/hardware
ergonomics, VR-authoring software, HCI design and cognitive ergonomics),
sociology and economics. In the course of ongoing projects COAT-Basel
is eligible to tap the human and infrastructural resources of the
University of Basel at the shortest possible notice.
University
of Vaasa
University of Vaasa is a research university, supervised by the Finnish
Ministry of Education. Logistics Systems Research Group is a research
group within the School of Engineering, Department of Production.
LSRG is focusing understanding the complex dynamics in supply chains
that consists of several factories, transportation units, warehouses,
retailers and customers. LSRG is currently participating in 6 international
and national projects, dealing with the concept of logistics automation,
SCM architectures, production planning / optimisation. In addition
to several publications in the field of configuration systems and
supply chain management, the group is also running ASDN Logistics
Analysis project at SourceForge.net.
Universiti
Malaysia Sarawak
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak was officially incorporated on 24 December
1992. It is the eighth public University, established after the declaration
of Vision 2020, giving it the opportunity to become a significant
intellectual catalyst of change nationally. UNIMAS took its first
intake of students in 1993 in the Faculty of Social Sciences, and
Faculty of Resource Science and Technology. In 1994 the University
moved to its temporary campus in Kota Samarahan, Sarawak. Since then,
UNIMAS has grown rapidly with the establishment of eight Faculties,
three Institutes and seven Centres. From the start, UNIMAS has dedicated
itself to educating students who are highly knowledgeable and skilled
in their respective fields, as well as possessing positive cultural
values. UNIMAS was awarded the ISO 9001: 2000 quality certificate
by SIRIM for implementing quality processes in its management of academic
activities from the intake of new students to the award of degrees
to graduates. The development of ICT has been given much emphasis
through its wider use in all aspects of teaching-learning and administration.
Nanyang
Technological University
Nanyang Technological University (NTU) was ranked 50th globally and
7th in Asia by The Times Higher Education Supplement in a 2004 ranking
of the world's best universities. NTU is expanding rapidly on a solid
foundation of science and technology. Besides having one of the largest
engineering colleges in the world, NTU has a top-tier business school
with one of the top 100 MBA programmes in the world, an internationally
acclaimed National Institute of Education, one of the best communication
and information schools in Asia, and a biological sciences school
at the forefront of Singapore's life sciences initiative. To faculty
members from The School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering are
participating in this project. The School, with 200 faculty members
is the largest Mechanical engineering institution in the world. NTU
has expanded its global network to accelerate collaborative research,
teaching and entrepreneurship. It has many joint programmes with top
universities. They include the Singapore-MIT Alliance, Singapore-Stanford
Partnership, Cornell-Nanyang Institute of Hospitality Management,
and Singapore-University of Washington Alliance in Bioengineering.
The Global Immersion Programme, which offers an exceptional multi-country
experience of language, culture, industry and entrepreneurship, will
cover 13 cities in five countries by 2006.
Sigma
Consultants
Sigma, founded in 1984 and based in Sophia Antipolis (a technology
park located near Nice, France) is a provider of information and support
services in the ICT field with extensive experience in cooperation
between Europe and Asia, gained in particular through several IST
projects the company has been or is involved in, as a partner or a
coordinator. Sigma is now developing its activities in two main directions:
- market and technology research in the field of technologies
and services for the home via its Homega Research
Division
- information and support services for organisations in their
international cooperation projects in the ICT domain via its Orionis Division
University of Nottingham
The University of Nottingham is in the Russell Group as one of the
leading UK teaching and research institutions. The University obtains
and manages substantial research funding from the UK, Europe and internationally,
and its finance, administration and research departments have substantial
experience in administrating and contributing to Commission funded
projects. The Human Factors Research Group comprises the Institute
for Occupational Ergonomics (IOE), the Virtual Reality Applications
Research Team (VIRART), both of which will be involved with this project,
and the team has ready access to expertise across all aspects of ergonomics,
psychology, engineering, computing and business for their industry
relevant projects. The University of Nottingham has a particular reputation
as a world leading group in human factors.
Centro
Ricerche FIAT (CRF)
Centro Ricerche FIAT (CRF) is an industrial organisation which has
the mission of promoting, developing and transferring innovation in
order to provide competitiveness to its clients and partners which
include the different companies in the FIAT Group, automotive suppliers,
companies from other sectors of industry, SMEs, and national and international
research agencies. CRF attains this objective by focussing on: the
development of innovative products, the implementation of new processes
(manufacturing and organisational), the development of advanced methodologies,
consultancy and the training of human resources. Priority areas of
R&D at CRF include Energy and the Environment, Safety and Well-Being,
and Sustainable Growth. The core competence of CRF is centred on land
transportation: advanced vehicles and propulsion systems, innovative
components with associated manufacturing processes and methodologies
for product development. In developing and applying these core competencies,
considerable emphasis is placed on the transfer of advanced technologies
from automotive applications to other sectors of industry and areas
of business. In this context, CRF actively supports the technological
growth of SMEs working outside the arena of the automotive industry
in fields which range from business process re-engineering, advanced
product and process methodologies, to micromechanics and optics, IT
methodologies, telematics and others. CRF currently has approximately
980 employees and is organised in the following principal technical
divisions: Engines, Vehicles, Electronic and Electrical Systems, Business
Information Technologies, Advanced Product/Process Technologies, Micro-
and Nanotechnologies, and Telematic Applications. The state-of-the-art
facilities include: electromagnetic-compatibility chambers, anechoic
and hemi-anechoic cells, NVH laboratories, optoelectronics and microtechnologies
laboratories, engine, fluid dynamics, rapid prototyping, computed
tomography, virtual reality, etc.
IMARTIS
IMARTIS AG is an SME based in Huenenberg in Switzerland. Since 20
yearsIMARTIS is active in the field of visualisation. IMARTIS providesconsulting,
products, solutions and support. Starting in the beginningfrom the
high-end segment IMARTIS covers today also needs of SME andeven private
customers. The activities cover fields such as filmproduction, CAD,
3D modeling, and Virtual Reality and presentationtechnology for engineering
and sales. MasterViz is an easy to useIMARTIS software that integates
existing documents and media forinteractive sales purposes.
University
of Stuttgart
At the Institute for Human Factors and Technology Management (IAT)
of the University of Stuttgart and the Institute for Industrial Engineering
(IAO) of the Fraunhofer- Gesellschaft in Stuttgart, both under the
leadership of Prof. Dr. Ing. H. J. Bullinger, more than 220 researchers,
scientists and technicians work closely together in inter-disciplinary
research teams in the field of technology management. Fields of research
at the IAT relevant for TRAINER are "Multimedia Business Management",
"Information Engineering", "Software Ergonomics", "Interactive Products",
and "Human Engineering". The IAT has gained experience in conducting
pilot projects in the implementation of CBT tools as well as in the
field of driving research, both on national and EU level.
Volvo
Technology Corporation
Volvo Technology (VTEC) is an innovation company that, on contract
basis, develops new technology, new product and business concepts
for "hard" as well as "soft" products within the transport and vehicle
industry. VTEC primary customers are the Volvo Group companies and
Volvo Car Corporation but also some selected suppliers. In addition,
VTEC participates in national and international projects in certain
strategic areas, organised in common research programmes, involving
universities, research institutes and other companies. VTEC R&D work
involves a number of basic areas, e.g. transportation, telematics,
internet applications, databases, ergonomics, electronics, combustion,
mechanics, industrial hygiene and industrial processes, and using
techniques such as systems engineering, multi-physical and chemical
modelling, programming and simulation. Beside the R&D areas, VTEC
offers specialist services in the areas of intellectual property protection,
standardisation and information retrieval.
CERTH/HIT
CERTH is the Centre for Research and Technology Hellas, a leading
Research Institute, supervised by the Greek Ministry of Development.
HIT (Hellenic Institute of Transport) is one of the Institutes that
provide input for policy formulation, documentation of major trends
and impacts in the field of Transport, formulation of operational
rules and procedures, improvement of the operation and management
in the various Transport modes, etc. It possesses the required infrastructure,
so as to perform evaluation tests of prototype systems, which includes
a semi-dynamic driving simulator, a virtual reality laboratory and
an equipped research vehicle for on-road tests.
CERTH/ITI
ITI (Informatics & Telematics Institute) is another of CERTH's Institutes.
The ITI research group has long and very extensive experience in knowledge
technologies and their applications in the cultural, educational and
public administration sectors. Other research areas of ITI include:
multimedia and Internet technologies, educational and cultural technologies,
data communication and computer networks, identification and tracking
of semantic objects, content-based search and retrieval and virtual
and augmented reality.
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