Aston Martin: High-tech design for iconic cars

In 1964, Sean Connery ejected the baddie from the passenger seat of James Bond’s Aston Martin DB5, heralding the screen debut of one of the world’s most iconic cars.
In spite of the high-tech shenanigans in Goldfinger, the luxury car maker is steeped in tradition.

Famously, all Aston Martins are manufactured by hand at its factory in Gaydon,  Warwickshire, but a century since the first car was built, the company is embracing IT, in all areas of the business.
A modern IT environment is very much part of the Aston Martin brand, where the use of advanced technology is balanced with traditional manufacturing.

The design process starts with sketches that end up as 3D CAD diagrams – the first sketch may be drawn on paper or using a Wacom tablet. The sketch is then scanned into Autodesk Alias through a process called digital validation. The designer maps the scanned sketch onto a 3D wireframe model.

In celebration of its centenary this year, Aston Martin has created a fully working concept car – called the CC100. It was designed in five months and was taken to the Nürburgring track in Germany for testing in May. The C

C100 has a top speed of 180mph and can accelerate from 0-62mph in under four seconds.
A key part of the design process is the creation of several quarter-size models that are used to ensure the car looks as the designer intended. In the design studio, modellers work with designers on the quarter-scale clay models. Design is an iterative process. A sculptor works the clay model with the designer to ensure the curves on the model look the way the designer intended.

Initially, tin foil is used to show how light falls on the model. Eventually the model is painted and viewed under controlled lighting in the design studio, allowing the team to see the lines and curves of the model’s bodywork. Once the design is complete, it is a scanned into a computer to build a 3D model.

Commenting on how car designs at Aston Martin are created, design operations director Carl Dibsdale says: “We need a synergy and understanding of great surfaces. We also need the physical and digital world to work in harmony.”

The scan creates surface data quickly through AutoDesk 3D Studio. Aston Martin also uses Alias and Maya to build photorealistic 3D models (CGI). These are used to help designers visualise the car.
“We need to do quick and dirty visualisation daily along with high end visualisation to maximise  realism in the minimum time,” says Dibsdale. “Everything in the interior of an Aston Martin is also modelled, down to the stitching on the leather.”

Rendering photorealistic CGI images from CAD diagrams takes a large amount of processing power, and Aston Martin is pushing the limits of the Nvidia GPUs in its engineering workstations. Once designers are happy with the digital model, a full-size image is rendered and projected in high definition (HD) in Aston Martin’s Digital Design room to enable the designers to sense how the finished design will look using Showcase, Autodesk’s presentation software.

The final part of the design involves building a one-off full-size clay model. A computer numeric control mill is used to sculpt the clay based on the CAD data. Aston Martin uses a Fortus Dimension 3D printer to create certain parts for the model to add realism and reduce cost.

“The 3D printer helps us design and print highly realistic models in the studio,” says Dibsdale. One area where it is used is in printing one-off alloy wheels for the full-scale model, made of resin. Creating a one-off wheel would cost £50,000, while printing in 3D is about £1,000, he says.

The clay model is coated with a product called Dynoc, which has a metal-like texture to match the car’s finished bodywork. The £200,000 full-size model is viewed both inside and outside the design studio, so the designers can see how the car would look in natural light.
Once the designers are happy with their creation, the CAD technical diagrams are exported to Siemens’ Teamcenter software to manage product and process knowledge. Aston Martin shares the CAD diagrams with its European suppliers using Majenta Exchange, a high-end, secure FTP service.
Computer Weekly visited the Aston Martin production line in June. Within the factory, the cars are entirely hand-built, apart from a robot that lays down an even layer of adhesive for gluing the body panels. There is also a robot to weave the million-plus stitches needed to create the “V” logo in the Aston Martin Vanquish’s head rest.

Apart from these, everything else is done by hand. Each component is barcoded when it comes into the factory and as a car is moved manually along the production line from one station to the next, staff have 30 minutes to fit the part or complete the required task before another piece of work arrives.
Over the past few years, Aston Martin has replaced its accounting system with Microsoft Dynamics AX, and is currently deploying Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 to provide an accurate and resilient product structure and engineering change management environment.

A 3D printer helps us design and print highly realistic models in the studio
Carl Dibsdale, Aston Martin

“With the full implementation of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, we will have a far more accurate and resilient product structure and engineering change management environment,” says Bradley Yorke-Biggs, strategy and IT director at Aston Martin. “Currently, this is a manual process, but this will bring with it an electronic change management capability, which is a big leap for us.”

The IT department has also begun migrating to a cloud-based computing model for many functions. For the past year, it has been using Microsoft’s Office 365 cloud-based service to provide access to Microsoft Exchange and office productivity software. For its office staff, Aston Martin selected the Office 365 E3 plan, which provides licences for Microsoft Office 365 ProPlus, Exchange Online, Lync Online and SharePoint Online.

On the server side, Aston Martin has switched from a Sparc-based Unix environment to Hyper-V/Suse to run its Siemens product lifecycle management (PLM) system. Implemented in May 2013, the core system will use Hyper-V to run Suse Linux 11 SP2 on HP BladeSystem hardware.

“HP servers have proved to be more reliable than competitors’ models, and also have better diagnostics and better overall performance,” says Daniel Roach-Rooke, IT infrastructure manager at Aston Martin. “They also have management tools that integrate into Microsoft System Center.”

Along with using Hyper-V/Suse in its PLM, he says Aston Martin also uses Microsoft Server 2012 Hyper-V to run its SharePoint Server 2013/SQL Server 2012 environment.

Aston Martin factory visit >>

Zhengzhou Journal: The Demanding Off-Hour Escapes of China’s High-Tech Workers

Fun Factory: Blowing Off Steam in China: After spending a shift on the factory floor, young workers in China’s manufacturing cities let loose.

 
ZHENGZHOU, China — The hottest nightclub in this factory town is a neon-encrusted dive down the road from the industrial park where iPhones are made 24 hours a day. Tucked behind an open construction site, “Through the Summer,” as the nightspot is known, had it all on a recent Saturday night — plastic whistles, fruit plates, a toddler with a mohawk, counterfeit light sabers and a bawdy comedian who imbibed beer through his nose. 

 Thousands of young Chinese come to the city of Zhengzhou to work in electronics factories. To escape the monotony of the assembly line, many take up roller skating as a hobby, like at the outdoor roller rink. More Photos »
Liang Yulong, 19, who tests iPhone motherboards at the Foxconn Zhengzhou Technology Park, arrived at the club with a single goal in mind: to obliterate his dreary daytime reality on the spring-loaded dance floor. “Dancing lets me vent my anger and stress,” he said, cigarette in hand. “When I’m here, I forget everything else.”

 
Here on the gritty outskirts of Zhengzhou, the capital of central Henan Province, the nocturnal menagerie reveals a little-explored aspect of the global supply chain, the off-hour escapes that give the masses of workers the motivation to return to the assembly line.

 
The hands that make the world’s electronics belong almost entirely to young people with dreams of their own, and a lifetime of contented industrial drudgery is not among them. Their precious time off is a rare chance to enjoy the present as they strive for a better future.

 
“Everyone gets psyched for the weekend,” said Bai Sihai, 24, as he navigated open potholes on the way back to his dorm after work one afternoon. His plan? A video-game binge session at an Internet cafe followed by a long-distance phone call to his girlfriend.

 
The captains of industry are beginning to see the merits of off-hours leisure. In recent years, a wave of riots and suicides at China’s huge factories have drawn attention to working conditions. In April and May, two workers and a prospective employee jumped to their deaths from dormitories that cater to workers at the Zhengzhou plant, which is owned by Foxconn, the Taiwan-based manufacturing giant that produces electronics for Apple, Microsoft and other companies. Foxconn maintains that the suicides were unconnected to work at the factory. Also in May, a worker committed suicide at a Samsung plant in the southern province of Guangdong, where labor rights organizations had documented a string of violations like forced overtime and under-age workers.
The industry has responded with carrots and sticks to save both the lives of their workers and their own corporate reputations. Under pressure, Foxconn has raised wages and cut overtime hours. At the Shanghai plant run by Quanta, which makes hardware for companies including Apple, Toshiba and Asus, workers can pay for yoga and taekwondo classes.
After the latest suicides at the Zhengzhou plant, the company instituted “silent mode,” which banned all talk about nonwork tasks on the factory floor. Although Foxconn later announced it had rescinded the policy after a public outcry, workers say it remains in effect.
In the high-tech Olympus of Silicon Valley, employees in ergonomically luxuriant offices can get subsidized massages and haircuts, scale rock-climbing walls, play foosball, meditate and do Pilates — all in the name of promoting creative innovation.

 
The work environment is considerably more bare-bones here. Unlike Apple’s modernistic new campus in Cupertino, Calif., which will be surrounded by apricot trees, the Zhengzhou factory has all the charm of a penal colony. Employees, who must wear matching uniforms, say supervisors routinely curse and yell. In the residential compounds, rows of brick dormitories house up to eight workers in rooms filled with metal bunk beds, a combination shower-toilet, and not much else.

 
Perhaps that is why the world beyond the factory gates resembles a gigantic street fair. As dusk fell one night recently in Zhengzhou, Mandarin pop music blared from hair salons and couples strolled past stalls selling pirated DVDs, sliced watermelon and roses covered in silver glitter. A flatbed truck piled high with oversize stuffed animals drew a mob of young women like sharks to blood. “I want the green teddy bear,” cooed a teenage girl to her boyfriend, who dutifully handed over 10 renminbi, or $1.60.
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: July 17, 2013

A picture caption with an earlier version of this article incorrectly described the electronics manufacturing district of Zhengzhou, China. The district is not nicknamed Apple City.
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: July 18, 2013
An earlier version of this journal article referred incorrectly to three suicides at the Foxconn plant. Two were of Foxconn workers and one was of a prospective employee; not all three were employees. All jumped to their deaths from dormitories catering to Foxconn workers, not from the Foxconn plant. And two suicides occurred in April; they were not all in May. The earlier version also omitted Foxconn’s contention that the deaths had no connection to work at the plant.

State of the Art: High-Tech Eyeglasses, Not Made by Google

The truth is, though, that 2013 has been the Year of the High-Tech Glasses in other, quieter ways. At least three new eyeglass technologies have arrived. They’re not intended to bring the Internet to your eyeball. They have a more traditional goal: improving your vision.

Here’s a look at three.

ADLENS VARIABLE FOCUS Yes, it’s an unfortunate name; Adlens glasses may be the one place in today’s world where you won’t encounter advertising.

“Ad,” in this case, is short for “adjustable”; these are variable-focus glasses. The lenses of the Lennon and Hemispheres styles ($80 and $100; adlens.com) are filled with liquid, and cylindrical plastic knobs protrude from the sides. By turning the knobs, you precisely adjust the liquid pressure on a curved membrane inside the lens, affecting its power (from –4.5 to +3.5 diopters). They can handle even severe nearsightedness or farsightedness. They don’t work for the blurriness of astigmatism, but they’re perfect for presbyopia (better known as “over-40-reading-glasses-syndrome”).

There are distinct advantages to variable-focus glasses like these. First, you can tweak the lenses independently for each eye. Second, you can adjust them for different situations — tired eyes often need more help — or even different people. They’re a natural for restaurants, which can hand them out to patrons who’ve forgotten their reading glasses.

Third, you can adjust them yourself, without requiring an eye doctor or a prescription. That’s a big deal in poor countries like Rwanda, where, Adlens says, there are 10 million people but only 14 optometrists. Even though a million Rwandans need glasses, almost nobody has them, according to the company. When you buy a pair of these glasses, Adlens donates a pair for distribution in Rwanda.

The Lennon and Hemisphere styles look goofy because the lenses are perfect circles, like half dollars, which isn’t a design that will suit many faces. (They’re available in a wide range of frame colors and lens tints.)

Furthermore, the adjustment knobs are big, ribbed and absurd looking, sticking out beyond the frames. Once you’ve dialed up the perfect focus, you can snap off the knobs, but then the glasses are no longer adjustable. You’ve locked in that “prescription” forever.

You can leave the knobs on, so that you can dial up different focal powers at different times. That’s fine if you don’t care what you look like (at home in bed, say), but you wouldn’t want to wear them in public like that.

The third Adlens style, Emergensee ($40), is slightly more conventional-looking. Its adjustment knobs are much smaller and less conspicuous. They stay on, so you can always adjust the focus.

These glasses don’t have liquid inside; instead, each lens has two panes that slide past each other when you turn the knobs, so they still look a little odd. But Adlens promotes them as an ideal spare pair for the glove compartment or kitchen drawer.

The best, Adlens says, is yet to come. This fall, it will offer liquid-lens technology, for the first time, in normally shaped, designerlike frames. Stay tuned.

O2AMP COLOR-ASSISTING GLASSES O2Amp makes tinted-lens glasses for the medical profession. According to the company, these glasses give doctors a “clearer view of veins and vasculature, bruising, cyanosis, pallor, rashes, erythema, and other variations in blood O2 level, and concentration,” especially in bright light.

But the purplish pair, the Oxy-Iso ($302), has an unintended side effect, the Web site says: they “may cure red-green colorblindness.”

I just about hit the ceiling when I read that. Like about 8 percent of the male population, I’m colorblind; I have severe red-green colorblindness. That is, I see far less red and green than you do. I can’t tell blue from purple, or green from brown. And I fail miserably on those colorblindness tests where you try to see hidden numbers among colored dots (Ishihara plates).

Unfortunately, the Oxy-Iso glasses did nothing for me. I still failed the Ishihara tests.

Advertising: A Contest From Target With a High-Tech Twist

The retailer, Target, part of the Target Corporation, and the new Co.Labs technology blog published by Fast Company magazine, owned by Mansueto Ventures, sought out developers to take part in a competition they called the Retail Accelerator contest. The goal was to encourage the development of mobile apps with shopping purposes; the grand prize winners would receive $75,000 and a chance to have their entry brought to life by Target for customers to use.

The contest began in March at the South by Southwest Music and Media Conference in Austin, Tex. On Wednesday, Target and Co.Labs plan to announce the winners of the grand prize: a group of seven people who work at TBWA/Chiat/Day and TBWA Worldwide in New York, part of the Omnicom Group, and competed on their own, separate from the agencies, under the name Team Pilot.

Team Pilot’s winning entry, called Divvy, is meant to improve digital experiences in the realm of group shopping or social shopping by, for instance, enabling several people to update a shopping list in real time and making it easier to divide a bill among numerous shoppers and distribute copies of receipts among them.

The idea from Team Pilot — led by Christopher Reardon, team leader and head of user experience — was one of seven finalists in what was formally called the Co.Labs and Target Retail Accelerator contest. Each finalist received $10,000 and a chance to present to judges, including Jeffrey J. Jones, executive vice president and chief marketing officer at Target in Minneapolis.

There were initially about 350 individuals and teams who registered for the contest, Mr. Jones said, of whom about 75 submitted completed entries. The 75 were winnowed to the seven finalists and then to the grand prize winner.

The genesis of the contest was a question Mr. Jones asked as follows: “How do we continue to find ideas to accelerate our multichannel agenda?” By that, he meant ways of engaging with customers that include “target.com, our in-store experience, our Target app and the mobile Web.”

“As a reader of Fast Company, someone who is passionate about design and technology, I felt we were going to what I believe is the best media source that understands what’s going on and has access to the right people Target has to know, the best minds in the R.& D. community,” Mr. Jones said.

The contest is another example of a popular trend on Madison Avenue known as content marketing, which provides consumers with articles, video clips, charts and other materials that are sponsored by marketers. The purpose of content marketing, also known as branded content, custom content or sponsored content, is to surmount the increasing skepticism among the public for traditional advertising.

“I wanted to create some different models of how we can work with advertising partners,” said Christine Osekoski, publisher of Fast Company in New York.

“If you’re going to work with them on custom content, the question becomes how you make sure it’s content readers really want to read,” she added. “You have to be selective.”

Matthew Smith, integrated advertising director at Fast Company, agreed, saying that in this instance “the interests of church and state and the client and the community all aligned” because “we were speaking to them in an authentic way.”

That was echoed by Chris Dannen, the editor of Co.Labs. A way to achieve compelling content is to be transparent with readers, Mr. Dannen said, because “if they can’t see what’s going on behind the scenes, they won’t trust you.”

As a result, “we let it happen as it happened,” he said of the contest, adding: “There was the chance that no one would submit anything good. We were biting our nails.”

Mr. Dannen also shared some shortcomings, principally that because “we did not give people stringent guidelines on what their submissions should look like, some people put all their energy into the idea, some did highly detailed mock-ups and some submitted sketches on graph paper.”

The contest concept was first brought up a year ago, Ms. Osekoski recalled, when she met Mr. Jones in Los Angeles at the introduction of another Fast Company blog, Co.Create.

Although “Target is not a traditional advertiser for Fast Company,” she said, the retailer was keenly interested in reaching out to developers through the magazine. “Fast Company could be the conduit, the connector, the consultant,” she added.

Target is running ads on the Co.Labs blog to promote the contest.

Target is involved in other content marketing efforts, including the publication of its own online magazine-cum-blog, A Bullseye View. Mr. Jones said he and other Target executives “love what’s come out of” the collaboration with Co.Labs. But he added, laughing, “don’t let Christine tell you I promised to do this again.”

Ms. Osekoski, when told of Mr. Jones’s remark, said, “He reads my mind,” and laughed.

Although Fast Company is happy with how the partnership has turned out, she added: “This is not a contest to name a shade of lipstick or a nail color. This was a huge experiment for everybody. It takes a lot of work.”