Meidensha Corporation (Meiden) signed a partnership contract in March with FEV Japan Co., Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of FEV Group Holding GmbH of Germany, to sell Meiden’s automotive testing systems equipped with FEV’s software on the Japanese market. Sales targeting Japanese automakers and auto parts manufacturers will start in April 2019.

The automobile market has undergone a revolutionary transformation – a kind of change that happens once a century – with heavy investments being made in “Connected, Autonomous, Shared, Electric (CASE),” or operations to make next-generation vehicles that are Internet-connected, driverless, shared by people and electric.

In the latest partnership deal, Meiden will sell its automotive testing systems with relevant FEV software to Japanese automobile and auto parts makers to support clients tackling the digitalization of the design and development of automobiles in what is known as a model-based development. This type of development, which the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has been encouraging automakers to adopt since fiscal 2017, allows automakers to design and verify “moving vehicles” on computer through simulations, rather than writing up design specifications first on paper. This will help drastically streamline operations and shorten the time needed for development.

The FEV software is used not only for conducting ordinary car performance evaluation as a highly functional open program, but also for accelerating the model-based development of auto-related products by creating a testing environment that incorporates user modeling, thereby making operations more efficient and shortening the time required.

In July 2019, Meiden will set up a new demonstration bench for electric cars at a laboratory building of its Ohta Works. After its opening, visitors will be able to see Meiden’s dynamometer and operation and measurement system equipped with FEV’s software: MORPHEE for demonstration bench automation and real-time simulation and xMOD for facilitation of tool coupling co-simulation among several simulation tools. The demonstration bench will be used for testing services for clients and Meiden’s research and development for EV business operations, in addition to promoting product sales.

The two companies will beef up their partnership with the aim of expanding the scope of operations in manufacturing and selling products, which is necessary to develop next-generation technologies, as well as providing relevant engineering services.

Meiden is the only company in the world that manufactures motors and inverters for EVs and plug-in hybrid vehicles and produces and offers services related to automotive testing systems. In its Medium-Term Management Plan 2020, the company positions automotive-related businesses as a growth field. Meiden will do its utmost to further improve the products’ quality and its mass-production technology and expand the scale of its business by enhancing the performance of its testing facilities to help proliferate electric vehicles and strengthening simulation and analysis capabilities. Doing so will lead to the creation of new technologies and values together with clients and corporate partners.

Meiden’s dynamometer business
Meiden has been a pioneer in automotive testing systems, having sold Japan’s first dynamometer in 1920 and the nation’s first chassis dynamometer in 1927. In addition, it started selling a roller dynamometer, which won the Ohm Technology Award from the Promotion Foundation for Electrical Science and Engineering in 1985. The company has sold numerous testing systems to research centers of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and other institutions as well as automakers and auto parts manufacturers to help implement environmental measures, such as gas mileage improvement and reduction in exhaust emissions and noise.

The number of processes for designing and developing vehicles is on the rise owing to ever-sophisticated functions needed for electric cars, safe driving and Internet connection as well as the diversification of powertrains owing to strengthened environmental regulations around the world. Therefore, it has become ever more important to shorten the time needed for development while ensuring quality, thus prompting Meiden to develop efficient testing systems with computer-aided-engineering. Furthermore, the company is conducting various tests for clients, while doing its own research and development of next-generation products

About FEV Group Holding GmbH
FEV Group, headquartered in Aachen, Germany, is a globally renowned engineering firm that develops automobile engines, powertrains and transportation vehicles, catering to transportation industries around the world. Designing and analyzing the functions of gasoline and diesel engines as well as advanced powertrains mounted with engines using alternative fuels are key operations of FEV Group, in addition to producing prototypes, and developing powertrains and transmissions. Also, vehicle integration, calibration and type certification as well as designing, developing and making prototypes of state-of-art electronic control equipment mounted on vehicles and powertrains are among its business operations.

FEV Group has widened the scope of engineering technologies to handle every type of transport vehicle. Lately, the firm is providing specialized system engineering technologies in wide areas such as electronics, telematics and infotainment fields. In its testing facility sector, the company is selling advanced test facilities and related equipment and providing instrumentation services to clients around the world. The group has state-of-art technological centers in Europe, the United States, China and other Asian nations, which are staffed with many specialized, highly skilled engineers.

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Public Relations Division
e-mail: kouhou@mb.meidensha.co.jp