Cooper Tire & Rubber and MacNeal-Schwendler Contract
24 February 1999
Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. and The MacNeal-Schwendler Corp. Contract to Design Tires
LOS ANGELES--Feb. 24, 1999--Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. and The MacNeal-Schwendler Corp. (MSC) have signed a product and technology agreement to revolutionize tire and automotive rubber product design and development.The multimillion-dollar consulting engagement will span approximately 18 months.
By creating an advanced tire design and modeling system, Cooper will provide tire and automotive customers faster delivery of advanced products. The development of new tire designs is a complex process involving several technologies that transform concepts of requirements to customer-acceptable products.
Cooper will use MSC's current suite of simulation tools as well as advanced proprietary technology and processes developed with this engagement to shorten the product design cycle, improve product quality and lower costs.
To remain an industry leader in profitable tire production, Cooper Tire & Rubber initiated its "Cooper 21" Strategic Plan. A component of this plan emphasizes product innovation and new tire development.
"Advances in tire technology are being heavily emphasized within our industry," explained vice president of technical for Cooper Tire, Dick Stephens. "We want to reduce the product development cycle and provide our customers with the benefits of leading-edge tire development technology. By developing a predictive tire modeling system, MSC is playing a key role in meeting our business objectives by shortening our concept to production time while improving product performance and costs."
In addition, a version of the modified program can be used by Cooper's engineered products group to perform faster analysis of future vibration control products.
"The program will allow individual engineers to perform an accurate but approximate analysis for component performance without requiring the services of a finite element expert," explained vice president of engineering for the engineered products division, Jim Vance.
"FEA experts will still be needed for complete or system analysis, but the new program will allow us to more quickly validate performance of proposed designs. This will allow us to provide our customers with parts possessing the requested performance more quickly and expediting approval of Cooper designs."
"This is a significant step toward the expansion of our addressed market," said Frank Perna, chairman and CEO of MSC. "Providing software and services of this nature that directly impact our customers' profit objectives is an important part of our strategy."
Founded in 1914, Cooper Tire & Rubber has headquarters in Findlay, Ohio, and specializes in the manufacture and marketing of rubber products for customers and industrial users. Products include automobile and truck tires, inner tubes, vibration control products, hoses and hose assemblies and automotive sealing systems.
Cooper is the eighth-largest tire manufacturer and is the recognized leader in the replacement tire market as a low-cost, high- quality producer. The company uses the most advanced technology and efficient production methods, and has a reputation for excellence in customer service. For more information, visit the Cooper Tire & Rubber Web site at www.coopertire.com.
The MacNeal-Schwendler Corp. is the world's leading supplier of software for technical applications. MSC's products play a key role in the design of virtually every major automobile, aircraft and space vehicle. MSC's products are supported by offices throughout North America, Europe, Latin America and the Asia-Pacific region. For more information, visit the MSC Web site at www.macsch.com.