Design of a driver's workplace

A public bus should have a modern driver's workplace with a fresh and functional design. Our team supported a customer’s project team from the initial idea to the point that the final product was ready for series production.

Taking a simple manual design sketch as our basis, we created the first free-form surfaces in our CAD system. Throughout the entire development process, our team was in constant communication with the customer’s designer – for example, during the construction of the design surfaces (class A), the design validation in accompanying package analyses, the feasibility and assembly analysis, the concept creation and elaboration of the component data and finally during the drafting of the series production drawings. Intensive coordination with potential tool and production suppliers was also part of our remit.

Thanks to a detailed cost/benefit analysis of the various manufacturing processes for the components, our customer was able to make their decisions. For the workplace’s height adjustment element, we conducted a kinematics analysis to find out which concept – tension or compression – would work better. In the course of this work, we also simulated various functional models with pneumatic and electromechanical adjustment mechanisms.

The highly skilled interaction between our business divisions together with the customer’s expertise in relation to design, development, assembly and automation enabled us to achieve a short, efficient development phase. And ultimately an innovative, quality-assured driver’s workplace.