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At Autodesk University, we recently celebrated the winners of the 2020 Autodesk Excellence Awards for Product Design & Manufacturing. These exceptional companies are being honored for their groundbreaking work in reshaping design and manufacturing processes in a positive light. Let's delve into how these trailblazers are leveraging advanced technologies to fuel innovation.
**INNOVATOR OF THE YEAR**
Hyundai Motor Group New Horizons Studio, located in Mountain View, CA
Hyundai Motor Group’s New Horizons Studio is making waves with its novel walking car concept. This forward-thinking studio has developed an entirely new vehicle concept that reimagines the possibilities of mobility. Elevate, the first-ever “ultimate mobility vehicle,†is capable of transforming into a four-legged walking machine, surpassing the capabilities of traditional off-road vehicles.
The Hyundai team employed Autodesk generative design technology to craft lightweight yet robust legs that can handle the torque of the electric motors. What initially began as a response to the need for resilient transportation in disaster scenarios has evolved into something far greater. Elevate can reach places no car has ventured before, opening up endless opportunities.
**INDUSTRY DISRUPTOR**
Briggs Automotive Company, based in Speke, Liverpool, UK
Briggs Automotive Company is renowned for designing and building the BAC Mono, a high-performance, street-legal race car weighing just around 570 kilograms. The UK-based team is always on the lookout for ways to shave off weight and enhance performance.
For the latest version of the Mono, BAC utilized generative design technology in Fusion 360 to fabricate the car’s wheels. By specifying performance requirements, materials, and preferred fabrication methods, generative design offered numerous options to explore. The new wheel not only fits BAC’s aesthetic and brand identity but also cuts down the weight by 35% compared to the previous version, allowing for traditional manufacturing on a 5-axis CNC mill.
Reducing the wheel weight by 10.5 pounds made the entire car lighter, boosting its speed and fuel efficiency.
**ENGINEERING THE IMPOSSIBLE**
Firefly Aerospace, located in Briggs, Texas
Building a 21st-Century Aerospace Company
Based outside of Austin, Texas, Firefly Aerospace, led by co-founder and CEO Tom Markusic, is closing in on the first launch of Alpha, its small launch vehicle. Despite the immense challenges of building spacecraft, Firefly’s engineers are pushing ahead with designs that output 1 million horsepower—equivalent to 1,000 high-performance sports cars running simultaneously. With lightweight, carbon fiber stages, Firefly can construct a rocket in just nine days.
Autodesk Inventor enables Firefly’s engineers to keep up their rapid pace, while Vault helps streamline team collaboration. Meanwhile, the countdown is on as Alpha is slated for liftoff later in 2020.
**INDUSTRY COLLABORATION**
Reynaers Aluminium, headquartered in Duffel, Belgium
Streamlining Building Product Design Through Digital Transformation
Reynaers Aluminium specializes in creating innovative and sustainable aluminum systems for windows, doors, curtain walls, and other products. Serving over 70 countries with 2,300 employees, the company faces the challenge of managing a vast and ever-growing portfolio of product configurations. Each new product system requires approximately 800 pages of documentation, and keeping track of this extensive portfolio was becoming increasingly difficult.
By integrating tools from Autodesk’s Product Design & Manufacturing Collection with enterprise business systems, Reynaers established a centralized, unified source of information for both development teams and customers. Although their digital transformation is ongoing, Reynaers has already simplified processes, automated certain workflows, and reduced the likelihood of manual errors.
**MAKING A BETTER WORLD**
The Ventilator Project, based in Boston, MA
Volunteers worldwide unite to tackle the COVID-19 ventilator shortage
Founded to address the global ventilator shortage caused by the COVID-19 crisis, The Ventilator Project has rapidly grown to include over 200 volunteers globally since March 2020. From all walks of life, these individuals have come together to meet this urgent challenge.
Relying on funds raised through fundraising campaigns, the team aims to produce a rapid, scalable, low-cost pandemic ventilator. Initial prototypes of “AIRA,†the device they’ve named, were developed in mere weeks, with feedback from medical professionals helping them refine subsequent iterations.
Collaborating remotely, volunteers worldwide turned to Autodesk Fusion 360 for design collaboration. Confident in AIRA’s potential, the team is now waiting for FDA authorization to commence production.
To learn more about these inspiring projects, click here.