Daimler streamlines flagship truck development with Mentor’s Capital electrical design software

USA: Mentor Graphics Corp. and Mercedes-Benz Trucks announced successful application of the Mentor Capital software suite to the development of Daimler’s flagship heavy truck, the new Actros.

Branded “trucks you can trust”, the Actros includes innovative electrical/electronic systems that significantly boost efficiency, safety, and reliability. The sophisticated nature of these systems drives challenges for the truck’s electrical design, particularly with respect to systems integration, design validation and configuration management. To solve these challenges, the Germany-based company used the Capital tools, extending Mentor Graphics software deployment to now span three continents.

“To develop such an advanced truck requires not only powerful design automation, but also robust design data management,” said Wolfgang Appel, senior manager, system architecture, Mechatronic Engineering, Mercedes-Benz Trucks.

“Capital was the natural tool choice because it is so strong in these areas, and is designed to be used by large, multi-site organizations.” Daimler noted that Capital’s powerful design lifecycle management, electrical/mechanical data integration, and standardized communication with suppliers were all key contributors to successful development of the Actros’ complex electrical systems.

The Capital suite spans an extended electrical systems “Define – Design – Build – Service” flow and is particularly targeted at transportation applications. Combining powerful design automation and modern enterprise integration capabilities, the software creates digital continuity within the electrical domain to compress development cycle time and deliver significant cost reductions.

“Capital is broadly adopted across Daimler’s several truck brands. In part this is because Capital supports a number of different design flows,” said Martin O’Brien, GM of the Integrated Electrical Systems Division at Mentor Graphics. “The toolset is both flexible and future-proof, as well as being highly productive. This flexibility and power explains why many of the world’s leading truck manufacturers have adopted Capital, with deployments in multiple locations in Europe, USA, Asia and Japan.”