Mentor Graphics Announces Ford is to Standardize on the CHS Electrical Design Tools Worldwide

DETROIT--Mentor Graphics Corporation announced today Ford Motor Company’s decision to standardize worldwide on Mentor Graphics CHS™ flow for the design of vehicle electrical systems. The intent is that CHS will be used by the entire Ford group including the Jaguar®, Land Rover®, Mazda® and Volvo® brands. Ford Motor Company will deploy CHS’s powerful electrical system design and integration software, and also the CHS harness engineering and costing tools.

This full CHS flow provides Ford with significantly enhanced engineering productivity by automating time consuming tasks. More importantly, CHS’s generative design flow promotes component and system re-use, thus consolidating purchasing volumes, and provides a rules-driven correct-by-construction paradigm that eliminates wiring integration errors. Using unique wiring synthesis technologies, CHS automates construction of all wiring interconnects taking into account the multiple options and variants that derive from the marketing configuration complexity of modern automobiles.

Because Ford will also adopt Mentor’s harness engineering and costing tools, data can be readily flowed throughout the design process, including to the tier 1 harness supplier base. This not only encourages a design-for-manufacture outlook but also supports robust design change processes.

Fundamental to CHS is the philosophy that design data management is key to solving the problem of electrical design complexity. Much of this complexity derives from the huge configuration challenge noted above, a problem faced by Ford and indeed all automotive OEMs. CHS is a data-centric toolset, with each software application built around a common object model contained within the Capital Manager™ application. By capturing and acting on the complex configuration relationships during the electrical design flow, CHS allows this complexity to be properly managed.

“By adopting CHS, Ford Motor Company is taking a very strong position in the deployment of these modern technologies. The electrical system is a high impact aspect of a modern automobile. By standardizing on CHS, Ford will achieve cost, reliability and time-to-market advantages in terms of part number control, design error reduction and architectural optimization” said Martin O’Brien, general manager of Mentor’s Integrated Electrical Systems Division.

About Mentor Graphics

Mentor Graphics Corporation is a world leader in electronic hardware and software design solutions, providing products, consulting services and award-winning support for the world’s most successful electronics, semiconductor and automotive companies. Established in 1981, the company reported revenues over the last 12 months of over $725 million and employs approximately 4,050 people worldwide. Corporate headquarters are located at 8005 S.W. Boeckman Road, Wilsonville, Oregon 97070-7777. The company has more than 70 offices worldwide, including Detroit, Munich and Tokyo. World Wide Web site: http://www.mentor.com/.

Mentor Graphics is a registered trademark and CHS and Capital Manager are trademarks of Mentor Graphics Corporation. All other company or product names are the registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective owners.