CATER Project

CATER is a 3-year collaborative research project launched in September 2006 and supported by the European Commission under the Sixth Framework Programme (DG Information Society and Media). In this context, CATER is a Specific Targeted Research Projects (STReP) coordinated by Fraunhofer IAO and focusing on developing tools and methods for mass customization in the automotive field. [ [http://www.ve-forum.org/apps/pub.asp?Q=1944&T=Clusters%20and%20Projects Computerized Automotive Technology Reconfiguration (CATER) System for Reverse Engineering and Mass Customization] ]

Objectives of the CATER project

CATER introduces systems and methodologies that go beyond the traditional approaches of automotive OEMs and in which design is driven by cross-cultural and emotional aspects of customer needs. This is enabled through integration of innovative ideas from diverse expertise of both Europe and Asia. In this way, CATER aims to facilitate business in the automotive industry, by bridging well-known gaps in the automotive ICT world of today, as well as gaps between Europe and Asia by integrating workable approaches from both regions

CATER also advocates networked business in the automotive field, aiming at a better integration of stakeholders (from OEMs to customers) within the supply chain, to support product planners and designers; while the customers can design their own vehicle via a VR interface in a 3D Web environment.

To reach its objective of enhancing mass customization of vehicles, CATER develops several tools

* A semantic notation system, which will be used by the concurrent engineering team to address customers’ needs and wants.

* A novel engineering methodology, called citarasa, which involves elicitation of customer expertise and feeling in vehicle purchase, and mapping these to vehicle design by concurrent engineering team.

* A Do-it-Yourself Design (DIYD) system for vehicle design, which will include a customization database structure and functionality with exemplary product data for vehicle configuration and a web user interface for mass customization, to support the customer in vehicle configuration tasks, taking into account emotional and functional criteria.

* A low-cost Virtual Reality interface for vehicle mass customization, allowing a high-quality stereoscopic view of the product and its components, to facilitate the sales process.

* A retrieval “module” (MArk) to interface with automotive existing teardown database, enabling better product benchmark and development.

* An inter-linked database structure and software architecture based on the above mentioned components, which will support the N-business paradigm, taking into account the needs of all stakeholders in automotive N-business processes, namely vehicle buyers, sales point, market departments, design engineers, manufacturers, logistic chain, part suppliers.

A number of use cases will also be defined to establish the framework for the technical and usability verification, based on most frequent user demands (from the marketing departments of OEM’s) and needs and each of them will simulate the overall service chain from a customer demand to the satisfaction of the order.

CATER expected benefits to the industry

CATER benefits to the various stakeholders can be summarized as follows:

Benefits to the vehicle manufacturers

CATER mass customization system is designed to support manufacturers in building vehicles that customers want, thereby leveraging the market potential of automotive companies. CATER planned developments include:
* A n-business model for global supply chain,
* A semantic notation system, integrating stakeholders to the production process,
* A citarasa engineering methodology for better understanding of customer needs, integrating affective and functional requirements, and mapping these to design parameters using data mining and axiomatic design principles,
* New tools & methods for mass customisation: 3D do-it-yourself design within a partially immersive virtual environment, etc.

Benefits to customers

CATER intends to enhance the end-users satisfaction by:

* An easier configuration of vehicles through VR interfaces,
* Vehicles personalised to customers citarasa need,
* Better designed vehicles.

Benefits to OEMs and component suppliers

CATER supports OEMs & component suppliers through:

* Early involvement in the product development process through integrated databases of the n-business supply chain,
* A unified semantic e-database, enabling a better perception of the market,
* A retrieval “module” (MArk) to interface with automotive existing teardown database to enable better product benchmark and develoment.

Partnership

CATER includes in its partnership a consortium of 14 major European and Asian organisations in the field ranging from vehicle manufacturers (Volvo, Fiat), OEMs (IC:IDO, Imartis) to research centres or universities (Fraunhofer, CERTH, University of Nottingham, Nanyang Technological University, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak [ [http://www.researchsea.com/html/article.php/aid/1782/cid/2?PHPSESSID=92ae156683bf... Unimas (University Malaysia Sarawak) will collaborate with European and South-East Asian Partners to develop the Computerized Automative Technology Reconfiguration System for Mass Customization (CATER)] ] , University of Stuttgart, University of Basel and University of Vaasa) and SMEs (Damai Sciences, Sigma Consultants).

CATER Concepts

Customer needs and citarasa engineering

Citarasa is formed by the Malay words Cita, that denotes intent, hope, aspiration and expectation, and rasa, indicating taste and feel that is related to affect & emotion. CATER developed a methodology for elicitation of customer expertise and citarasa in vehicle purchases, including an explicit method for mapping the customer citarasa to vehicle design for use by a concurrent engineering team. The citarasa database will be implemented online to support customer demand management as well as vehicle configuration tasks.

Networked solutions in the automotive sector

CATER will address the need for an inter-linked database structure and software architecture based on the above components, which supports the n-business paradigm, taking into account the needs of all stakeholders in the automotive n-business processes.

Semantic notation system

CATER will generate a common semantic notation description, which can be understood and used by the various experts in a concurrent engineering team, based on customers expression of needs. The semantic database in a sense is the "driver" and gelling agent of the various CATER databases.

Do-it-Yourself Design system for vehicle design

CATER will develop a web user interface for mass customization, powered by citarasa technology, to support the customer in vehicle configuration tasks, taking into account emotional and functional criteria. A low-cost Virtual Reality interface for vehicle mass customization will also be developed.

Automotive customisation and retrieval module (MArk)

CATER will develop a retrieval module (MArk) to interface with automotive existing teardown databases, enabling better product benchmark and development, to be used by vehicle designers, OEM manufacturers and their suppliers. The images in the retrieval system will be in multimedia format including 3D.

"CATER Conceptual Car Configurator"

References

* [http://www.ve-forum.org/apps/pub.asp?Q=1271 AITPL Cluster]
* [http://cordis.europa.eu/fetch?CALLER=PROJ_IST&ACTION=D&DOC=1&CAT=PROJ&QUERY=011929c4cea9:d89a:3c6e150d&RCN=79402 CATER Fact Sheet on Cordis]

External links

* [http://www.cater-ist.org www.cater-ist.org]