Case Study

ICEM Surf Helps Lamborghini Gallardo Arrive On Schedule

ICEMs surface modeling, analysis and visualization software cuts Gallardo development time and costs
The name Lamborghini is synonymous with quality and a tradition of excellence that has never changed during the years. Ferruccio Lamborghinis fascination for engines led him to study mechanical engineering in Bologna. During WWII he served as a mechanic in the Italian armys Central Vehicle Division in Rhodes. Upon his return to Italy, Ferruccio began to purchase surplus military vehicles, which he converted to agricultural machines. Just three years after the end of the war, the Lamborghini tractor factory was designing and building its own tractors. It is hard to say with certainty what made Ferruccio turn his attention from agricultural machinery to luxury sports cars; perhaps he was simply attracted by the success of his neighbor, Enzo Ferrari. Legend has it that the idea came to him after a discussion with Enzo Ferrari, when Ferruccio complained about the noisy gearbox in his new Ferrari. Ferruccios passion is evident in the company today. Lamborghini prides itself on the most innovative design, the latest technology, and the most modern of concepts. Each new model always exceeds the boundaries set by the previous one. The Lamborghini Gallardo continues the Lamborghini legacy. Based on an Italdesign-Giugiaro style, the design, initiated in 2000, was developed by the Lamborghini Centro Stile to integrate the parameters of Lamborghinis design philosophy. ICEM Surf software played a key role in helping the fabled Italian super carmaker meet its design and development criteria for the Gallardo production sports car. ICEMs surface modeling, analysis and visualization software was used throughout the Gallardo development project, from concept to production for all customer-visible components of the new car. The Gallardo was designed to be the best high performance sports car and have a driving behavior that fits its driver in every situation. The Gallardo is the combination of a true sports car that can be used on an every day basis. While matching these two apparently conflicting objectives, the guidelines for Lamborghini engineers were to fulfill the necessary comfort requirements without any compromise in the performances expected of a true Lamborghini car.

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The Gallardo was launched at the Geneva Motor Show, March 2003, and was also showcased at the Stockholm International Motor Show. ICEM Surf was used during the Stockholm show to present photorealistic visualizations of the Gallardo on a full-scale virtual reality SGI Powerwall in the main exhibition hall. Ms. Andrea Bonfatti, Lamborghinis body development manager, commented, The use of ICEM Surf enabled us to shorten the Gallardo development timescale by reducing the number of design iterations required to arrive at the finished product. Similarly, we were also able to cut the cost of the production tooling development process. As a completely new car, the exterior body and interior features had to be designed from scratch. The Gallardo, unlike all other Lamborghini models, is designed for mass production using standard assembly line production techniques. To meet the time schedule and design criteria for the new car, Lamborghinis body engineers imported point cloud scan data of a clay model into ICEM Surf, where the initial first pass surface models were created. Using the standard surface manipulation and analysis tools in ICEM Surf, engineers were able to refine the models with a minimum of iterations to reach the final productionready models for the entire exterior body and interior surfaces. ICEM Surf was used extensively during the design review process. Photo-realistic visualizations of individual components and assembly models of the car were created. The development team in Lamborghinis virtual reality centre viewed the images. Any physical prototypes that were required during the development process were also produced using ICEM Surf data. The use of ICEM Surf enabled the Gallardo development team to meet Lamborghinis Class A surface quality requirements at the same time as satisfying the styling and engineering requirements. Final production tooling for a variety of manufacturing processes, injection molding, laminated thermoplastics and aluminum pressing, was also developed using the final ICEM Surf surface model data, thereby saving both development time and costs. Lamborghinis Bonfatti said,ICEM Surf is an invaluable tool to us. It enables us to design and develop complex surface shapes and to manipulate and analyze them in real-time so that you immediately see the results of your actions. This means that we can satisfy the stylists requirements, at the same time as producing highly accurate 3D digital surface model data for use in the detail engineering design and manufacturing processes. This all helps us to shorten our time to market and to reduce development costs. www.icem.com info@icem.com