PLYMOUTH, Mich., Oct. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Simpson Industries' new Technical
Center in Plymouth, Michigan represents a $10 million investment to better
meet customers' growing design, development, testing and rapid prototyping
requirements.
    "Customers in the automotive industry have refocused their strategy,
concentrating design and engineering efforts on their core competencies of
styling, powertrain, and assembly.  They're consolidating their supplier base
and expecting remaining suppliers to provide increased design and engineering
responsibilities on the parts and components they manufacture," explained Roy
E. Parrott, President and Chief Executive Officer of Simpson Industries, Inc.
(Nasdaq: SMPS).
    Simpson is seeing a similar change in the heavy duty market, which it also
serves, he added.
    Simpson, Parrott pointed out, welcomes the change, and today, parts and
components under Simpson design responsibility account for more than
60 percent of sales, compared to approximately 15 percent five years ago.  The
company's target is to take the total even higher, to 75 or even 80 percent,
he noted.

    Center Creates Advantages
    How does the Center increase Simpson's design and development
capabilities?
    "Its advantages not only include state-of-the art, computerized design and
engineering capabilities, but an advanced materials lab and extensive testing
capability, much of it developed by Simpson," explained Greg Gilbert,
Simpson's Vice President, Technology Services.
    The design and engineering capabilities, featuring Computer-Aided Design,
Finite Element Analysis, and other advanced technologies, give Simpson the
ability to do "soft prototyping," analyzing numerous iterations of a part or
component in the time it would take to complete one hard prototype, with
significant costs savings.
    "Beyond that, the testing and lab capabilities permit us to close the loop
by not only designing, rapid prototyping, and developing parts and components,
but then by subjecting them to extensive testing under actual usage
conditions," Gilbert added.
    "Predictive and analytical engineering capability is part of our
commitment to shorten the product design and development process, and to
provide customers with validated designs they can quickly take into
production," Gilbert explained.
    How Does It Work?
    The process begins when a Simpson Product Development Engineer analyzes a
new product and its application requirements, determining performance
characteristics, calculating basic component sizes and strengths, and
selecting proper materials.
    "Once that's completed, the information moves to a Product Designer, who
creates an electronic model using a CAD system.  Simpson Industries, which has
been 100 percent CAD in product design since 1986, has five systems, to
communicate with OEMs on like systems.  The Product Designer takes those
requirements, then factors in weight, space, and cost constraints from the
customer and creates the preliminary design," Gilbert noted.
    That design next goes to Finite Element Analysis, where it is "soft
prototyped and refined using math-based modeling on the computer.  FEA
combines CAD data with product specifications and requirements, then
electronically tests these inputs for strength, endurance, and functionality.
    The Tech Center's Materials Lab is also involved with the design process,
working with CAD and FEA to marry design concepts with processing options to
meet each application's performance requirements.

    Testing Validates and Optimizes Designs
    Once customers have signed off on the design solutions, Simpson creates
hard prototypes and subjects them to rigorous testing, often using proprietary
or unmatched testing equipment.
    In the Noise, Vibration & Harshness (NVH) Lab, for example, a Simpson-
developed Frequency Testing Machine measures the tuned torsional frequency and
damping of crankshaft dampers.  Simpson's NVH Chassis Cell, the most advanced
and complete among its competitors, permits its people to evaluate a product
in its application in an entire vehicle, creating open road conditions.
    "When it's more practical to conduct a test on an engine, for better
accessibility and control, Simpson uses its Engine Dyno Cell, with its two
test beds," Gilbert added.
    The Center also includes an oil and water pump test bay, and a
Servo-Hydraulic Lab.  "In the Servo-Hydraulic Lab, we have one of only eight
Team torsional engine simulators in the world, permitting us to use servo
hydraulic inputs to simulate the exact torsional inputs an engine can
produce," he explains.

    Benefits For Simpson and Customers
    "Ultimately, the Tech Center's design and testing capabilities can
optimize the performance, weight, strength, and cost of the product, and also
reduce the product development cycle.  That makes us a preferred partner for
our customers in the automotive and heavy duty industries," points out
Allan L. Edwards, Vice President, Sales and Marketing for Simpson Industries.
    "One of the primary expectations of those customers today is that
suppliers handle more of the design and development load, and this Center
positions Simpson Industries to continue meeting that need well into the
future," Edwards notes, adding that, "it's also consistent with Simpson's
global strategy, since increased product design and development capability is
a must in many international markets, too."
    "Some suppliers might be frightened by this change.  There was a certain
comfort level involved when you knew that someone would hand you a print, and
your challenge was to focus on making the part faster, better, or cheaper than
the shop down the street," comments President and Chief Executive Officer Roy
Parrott.
    "In that environment, you were judged by the quality of your work.  Today,
increasingly, you're judged by the quality of your ideas.  And the people who
can develop those ideas.  People with ideas are what this Tech Center is all
about," he adds.

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