future ny semcon #2 2009

The inTelligenT planeT Embedded systems

revolutionize our daily lives and our future – are you ready?

BMW Z4 invests in feelings 1 MoBile services capture neW Markets 1 thales’ siMulator takes off

futureby semcon A mAgAzinE About EnginEEring sErvicEs & product informAtion # 2 2009

Contents #2.2009Articles in this issue of future by semcon

2 future by semcon 2.2009

Review

Downturn gives opportunities

24 Thales’ flighT simulaTor Takes off Thales, one of two leading global manufac-turers, wanted to make its flight simulator lighter, cheaper and more quickly assembled to meet the demands from an aviation industry searching to cut costs, while also retaining their high level of quality. Semcon took on the challenge.

6 The new world of embedded sysTems They’re everywhere. Embedded systems are mak-ing our lives simpler, safer and more comfortable. This has given access to technology that’s pre-viously been unattainable and is opening up fu-ture opportunities. Future by Semcon takes a clo-ser look at the new world of embedded systems.

38 meeT semcon’s sharpesT mindsIn Semcon Brains we meet individuals with excit-ing expertise and assignments. Ulrich Walther exposes cars to extreme cold, Alexandra Teterin adapts high-pressure food industry presses and Martin Brankell and Patrick Ohlsson monitors the driveline on a new electric hybrid project.

future by semcon 2.2009 3

32 The feel of driving the new bmw Z4 The new BMW Z4 was developed to give drivers an optimal driving experience. Helped by Semcon, BMW created an extraordinary car. Furthermore, the successful collaboration will be a model for future BMW projects.

The dramatic drop in demand, mainly from the automotive and engineering industries has been a challenge for everyone in the

industry over the past year. Everyone has struggled to come to terms with the new conditions that apply in this recession, but it’s also opened up new opportunities.

For Semcon it’s been important to act quickly, find the right cost levels, expand into new industries and find a stable glo-bal basis from which to build our business from. We’re currently investing heavily in areas like the energy sector and offshore, and we almost have 45 per cent of our business outside Sweden in countries like Germany, the UK, Brazil, Hungary, India, Malaysia and China.

In Germany, where we are starting to see a recovery in terms of new car sales, we now have our biggest market in the automotive industry. In this issue you can for example read about the develop-ment of the new BMW Z4, which was an exciting project that shows the strength of a good working partnership. We’re also making an impression in the UK, where Semcon has helped Thales with a new flight simulator and Land Rover with training material for their first stop/start system.

Another interesting area with major business potential is embedded systems. Semcon has genuine expertise in this area with more than 350 engineers and as-signments running over many years in the automotive, defence, telecoms and med-tech industries. In this issue of Future by Semcon we go in-depth into the subject to show the significance of embedded systems on society, both today and tomorrow.

Kjell nilsson cEo sEmcon

Website: www.semcon.com Address: future, semcon Ab, 417 80 göteborg, sweden. change of address: [email protected] Publisher responsible under swedish law: björn strömberg. Project manager semcon: Anders Atterling telephone: +46 (0)70 447 28 19 email: [email protected] editorial production: tidningskompaniet, göteborg. Project manager: peter mohlin. editor: Katarina misic. Design: charlotte sundberg. Website: www.tidningskompaniet.se repro: tidningskompaniet, göteborg. Printed by: trydells tryckeri, Laholm. issn: 1650-9072. translation: cannon språkkonsult Ab, Halmstad.


PeoPle #2.2009PeoPle in this issue of future by semcon

Embedded systems have revolutionized our lives and with-out them our society wouldn’t work. Meet some people in Future by Semcon who give their views on embedded systems.

40page

alexandra teteri, industrial design engineer,semcon eskilstunahow have embedded systems helped the high-pressure food industry presses that you’re working on now? “High pressure presses use programmable control systems that facilitate adapting the presses to various customers and provide improved control through diagnostics and constant logging of the presses’ status. This also provides increased safety and more reliable press results. Furthermore, the system also reports if the process has been carried out correctly, thereby meeting government guidelines concerning product quality.”

ulrich walther, engineer and testing manager, semcon bad friedrichshall Vehicles now contain more embedded systems. has this increased demands on you as a tester?“Yes, because we cannot integrate such things as mechanical systems as easily as five years ago. Simple electronics systems such as electric windows are operated by data bus systems. This means that demands are now considerably greater at the test site in terms of complexity and integration.”

38page

martin brankell, electronics engineer, semcon göteborg What functions can embedded systems offer the area of electric hybrids in the future?“The opportunities here are almost endless. In general terms they mean that you can have different systems in cars that communicate with each other, while using modern computer technology enabling you to steer them from your office. You can for example tell your car that you’ll be set-ting off in 30 minutes, which activates the car’s AC so that the car is cool or varm when you get into it.”

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sven dahlberg, systems designer, semcon göteborg

how important will embedded systems be in cars in future? “There’s nothing to indicate that the development of embedded

systems in cars will diminish. Rather the opposite. Control systems in cars will be even more important for functions, performance and

environmental impact. However, I do believe we’ll be seeing simplified versions of complex embedded systems in

low-priced cars like the Tato Nano.”

ian luckett, training development manager, jaguar land roverhow has the expansion of embed-ded systems affected your work with manuals and training?“As technicians’ assignments be-come more advanced their training will become more challenging and complex. We don’t only teach how to repair any more, but also how to make the correct diagnosis and how to communicate with customers. Training therefore now needs to be a more multi-dimensional activity to support this.”

13page

nick hughes, mobile service expert, uk What has the development of embedded, intelligent systems meant for your industry? “The M-Pesa banking service in Kenya has proven that there’s a huge need for embedded systems on growth markets. But they must be easy to use, be inexpensive and safe. This is still quite an unexplored area, with major business potential.”

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Focus:embedded systems

The new world of embedded sysTems


text Anders nilsson And KAtArinA Misicphoto HowArd BerMAn, nicKe joHAnsson

The first embedded system took us to the Moon and back. Today, small hidden com-puters operate car brakes, telephone calls, electricity supplies, payment systems and

a thousand other things in society. In a few years time there will be many more,

all connected to the internet and each other. Future takes a look at how embed-

ded systems are changing our society.




N eil Armstrong put his left foot on the surface of the Moon at 2.56 (GMT) on 21 July 1969. One in five of the world’s population sat glued to their

television sets and held their breath. Very few were aware that they were also witnessing an-other historic moment: the Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC), the world’s first modern embedded system, which was the predeces-sor to the fly-by-wire aviation system and the computer that would put man on the Moon.

The contract to build the AGC was signed 76 days after John F Kennedy’s famous speech on 25 May 1961, when he proclaimed that the USA would land on the Moon before the end of the decade. NASA and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) developed a new technology and a technology that would stand up to strict safety guidelines in record time. The astronauts needed to trust the embedded system, the software and remote control on take off, navigation and the landing on the surface of the Moon. Human lives were being put in the hands of a computer for the first time in history.

“The biggest problem was convincing people that a computer could be reliable. That was harder than designing it,” said Eldon Hall, designer of the AGC, to the BBC ahead of the 40th anniversary of the Moon landing. This comes as no surprise considering that the computers of the 1960s needed their own buildings, huge amounts of power and fre-quent repairs. The AGC on the other hand had to be small, light, never fail and not require any more power than a 60-watt bulb.

“The Apollo project was the moment when people stopped bragging about how big their

computers were and started bragging about how small they were” David A. Mindell, Professor at MIT wrote in a commentary for embedded.com.

The team behind the AGC had to quickly take brave technical decisions, including choosing to invest in integrated circuits, a technology that proved successful as far back as 1958, but which not many people believed in. The result, the AGC became an embedded system that allowed performance that man-kind has yet to surpass, but a system that in today’s terms has nowhere near the power and complexity of the mobile phone, USB memory stick or pocket calculator. The AGC measured 1 cubic foot and had the equivalent of 160 kb of memory that could compute simple ad-ditions in 24 microseconds. Enough to safely guide the astronauts 365,000 km from Earth to the Moon and home again, but extremely slowly from today’s standards.

inTel invenTed The microprocessor in 1971, and together with the trust in the technology cre-ated from the success of the Apollo missions, the modern computer revolution took off – not to the Moon, which many people possibly thought, but towards more down-to-earth, revolutionary development that’s continued unabated for decades, but which we’ve only just seen the start of. Small specialized com-puters, known as embedded systems, are now seen everywhere, in everything from consumer products to industrial processes and society infrastructures. Telephones and cameras, TVs and DVDs, washing machines and MP3

What are embedded systems?the term embedded system usually pertains to specialist computers (processors, including software, interface etc.) included in a product or process in order to improve its functionality. in brief, a computer that doesn’t look like a computer.

neil Armstrong and buzz Aldrin (pictured) would hardly have

been able to get the 365,000 km to the moon and back without

the Apollo Guidance system



players, drinks machines and elevators, cars and electric hybrids, trains and aircraft, traffic management systems and industrial proces-ses, medical equipment and nuclear power, electricity distribution and plumbing systems, rescue services and payment systems – the embedded systems are almost part of every activity and all structures in society.

Our desktop computers only actually make up 1 to 2 per cent of all computers that sur-round us. 98–99 per cent of all microproces-sors manufactured today end up in embedded systems.

Common to nearly all embedded systems is that they must be able to work independently without any problems over a long period of time. Consumers don’t have the will or op-portunity to reinstall software in a camera or microwave oven.

And like the Apollo missions, our lives of-ten depend on these systems working as they should. A bug in any software in a car’s ABS system, aircraft’s guidance system or control system in a nuclear power station, could have catastrophic consequences. Other systems – electrical supply, telecoms networks and payment systems would cripple society if they fail.

“Modern society would come to a standstill without embedded systems. Most functions in society now contain these units, and we would be completely helpless without them,” says Jerker Delsing, professor at EISLAB, Luleå University of Technology.

For many people it’s an uncomfortable thought that the robust mechanical transfer from the car’s brake pedal to the brake pads have been partly replaced with an electronic

system, where a computer controls the move-ment of the brake pads. How do we make this safe when it’s obviously not possible to make a PC that doesn’t break down from time to time?

buT sTill iT’s safe. ABS brakes have been stan-dard on cars for many years and we know that they work, without any problem, without any bugs, viruses and restarts. And it’s not sur-prising really. That it’s possible to make safe computer programs with fewer faults is no stranger than being able to build sustainable skyscrapers and aircraft. It’s fully possible, but places huge demands on quality assurance. Ordinary PC programs have generally been developed with other priorities: more focus on functions, fast launches and at a good price, and less on testing and stability.

But even if PC programs were as well tested as the software in car brakes, PC’s software would still not be able to be guaranteed, ex-plains Claes Wohlin, Professor at the Blekinge Institute of Technology and one of the world’s leading researchers of software systems and chief editor of the international scientific journal, Information and Software Technology.

“A major difference between your computer and an ABS system is that your computer is an open system where you personally install software,” he says. “And different software in systems can interfere with one another. It’s not possible for a manufacturer to test all the combinations of software available for down-load onto a PC.”

“Safety-critical embedded systems are, on the other hand, self-contained and the user can never influence their content,” he explains.

“Efforts are also made to minimize and sepa-rate the safety-critical parts. Automotive soft-ware is not a large system, where certain parts are safety-critical and others not. It consists of many small, defined systems.”

An important part of the stability of em-bedded systems is embedded functions that detect faults, and break unforeseen locked situations.

“A third of all software codes in ABS sys-tems control their function, the remainder are for diagnostics and monitoring,” professor Jerker Delsing explains.

Other strategies for creating embedded systems with extreme safety demands have parallel systems such as those used in space-craft,” says professor Claes Wohlin. In simple terms: power is given to three independent systems, which then make the majority of de-cisions. If one of the systems fails it becomes outvoted by the other two.

being able To TrusT an embedded system is crucial in a modern society, not least of all in the aviation industry. Modern commercial aircraft are more or less automated, where the embedded systems have the final word over the pilot. But it’s not always been that way. At the beginning of the 70s the world’s most popular aircraft was the Boeing 727, which was an “analogue” aircraft that relied on traditional mechanics and hydraulics, if not 100 per cent, then always as a backup to electronic systems. The European consortium Airbus was not seen as a serious contender to Boeing in the beginning and Airbus knew that they needed an ace in the hole to have a chance. That ace was the Airbus A320, the world’s first com-

“It’s when all the embedded systems out there begin communicating with one another that individuals will be able to

experience the major changes.”Niklas Z Kviselius, Doctor of Economics, the Stockholm School of Economics



mercial fly-by-wire aircraft, which was intro-duced in 1988 (Concorde had conducted trials with fly-by-wire, but it was not considered commercially viable to the same extent as it was in the A320.) The decision to develop the A320 using fly-by-wire control systems was not definite.

“It was one of the most difficult decisions I ever made. Perhaps we were too bold – we had no choice. Either we were going to be first with new technologies or we could not expect to be in the market,” said Roger Béteille, legendary former head of Airbus, to Flight International.

But the investment paid off. Using em-bedded systems and other innovations like composite materials the company created not only one of the world’s safest, lightest, most fuel-efficient and commercially most success-ful aircraft. It also allowed Airbus to take half of the global commercial aviation market away from the US.

The ambition now for embedded systems in flight control systems is to handle take offs, landings and capacity more quickly and more efficiently, both at airports and in the air. In January 2009 for example the first GPS navi-gated landing was carried out on an A380 in Sydney – the aircraft landed completely digi-tally without the help of the pilots.

meeTing safeTy demands, efficiency and a-chieving commercial success is one thing, but a more difficult question is how can society protect itself against intentional interference in embedded systems. The more computer-controlled embedded systems become, the more important it will be to protect them against viruses and internet attacks.

“But computer-controlled embedded sys-tems also provide increased opportunity to update and improve protection. That our PCs are more reliable now than ten years ago is in no small part due to us being able to constant-ly add updates,” says Claes Wohlin, professor at the Blekinge Institute of Technology.

Embedded systems for military use are usually equipped with protection against electromagnetic interference, which would otherwise interrupt or damage the electronics. In the past decade research in the area has also started to be of interest to civil society’s re-sistance to electromagnetic attacks, says Mats Bäckström, senior scientist at Saab Group and adjunct professor at KTH Royal Institute of Technology who is researching Intentional electromagnetic interference, EMI.

“In most cases there are methods in place that protect systems against disruption and permanent damage. It’s possible to effectively shield systems against radiation and we use overload protection to inhibit radio receivers

krzysztof kuchcinski, professor at lund university,:“current development focuses on how to implement demanding functions effectively, e.g. solve the problem using as little energy from the battery as possible. the more functions our mobile phones and other battery-driven devices have the more important it is to come up with energy-saving applications.”

claes wohlin, professor at blekinge institute of Technology:“regarding methodology and technology in embedded system software development we’re trying to answer the following questions: How do we find out what’s needed and measure quality? How do we steer development projects being carried out in different time zones and in different cultures? How do we test complex and society-critical systems effectively?”

Jerker delsing, professor at luleå university of Technology:“one of the research areas at our institute deals with developing soft-ware tools built around formal logic. these tools in principle will become ‘proof providers’ that will be able to determine that ‘this software will meet the requirements.’ it will make it a lot easier to create robust software.”

being damaged, for example. It is however dif-ficult, if not impossible, to fully protect wire-less systems against disruption, because they need to be open to the surroundings in order to carry out their job,” says Mats Bäckström.

In 2006 a total of four billion processors for embedded systems were sold, according to ARTEMIS, a European collaborative organiza-tion for R&D for embedded systems. By 2010 ARTEMIS expects the annual production rate to be as much as 16 billion units and by 2020 around 40 billion embedded processors a year.

These figures are hypothetical of course. Other analysts have quite different forecasts, and according to VDC Research Group we had already reached an annual volume of 10 billion processors for embedded systems in 2008. But even if the exact figures differ, all analysts agree on the fundamental aspects: embedded systems will see dramatic growth in the dec-ades to come.

The reason for the expected explosive growth is that the cost of both development

AirBus A320 the Airbus A320 was the first commercial aircraft to fully use fly-by-wire. in the future pilots could be completely surplus, with embedded systems used for taking off, flying and landing.

What research is being carried out in the field of embedded systems?

and production is expected in a few years time to be a fraction of what it is today, and that companies’ development departments have merely taken a few tentative steps in terms of researching the potential of modern technolo-gies like mobile telephony, wireless internet, GPS, RFID (computer chips that can be read remotely), slimmed down, electricity-saving operating systems, communication protocols and sensors for almost any application – being combined in embedded systems for completely new products and services.

“Even if technological advances in new processors and new programming methods is continuing the biggest R&D area for embed-ded systems in the future will be new ideas about how to use all this communication and calculation capacity. The new technology pro-vides so many opportunities,” says Krzysztof Kuchcinski, professor of computer science at Lund University’s Faculty of Engineering.

many people are predicting developments where embedded systems, to a greater degree, will communicate with their surroundings via wireless internet and mobile networks for example.


“It’s when all the embedded systems out there begin communicating with one another that individuals will be able to experience the major changes,” says Niklas Z Kviselius, Doc-tor of Economics at the Stockholm School of Economics and guest researcher at the Waseda University in Tokyo.

“I guess that the unit price will fall below EUR 2 within a few years and below EUR 1 within a decade. This will be for large volumes of 10 million units or more and there are many applications where these volumes are realistic.”

He gives examples from his extensive expe-rience in the mining industry.

“Miners drill in a lot of bolts into the roof of the tunnels in order to secure the rock. There are always mini earthquakes in a mine and mining companies need to map these. We’re therefore exploring the possibility of equip-ping these bolts with sensors that feel the quakes and send this information back over a wireless network. This could lead to both increased personal safety and a longer life ex-pectancy for the mine.”

“Or imagine all the thousands of cars that are parked in vast shopping centre car parks,” he continues. “Together they have a relatively


large amount of calculating power in their processors and lots of sensors. Would it be possible to borrow these resources while the cars are parked? Why not! In this way we could put idle small processors to good use and join together more calculating capacity than what’s available in the major IT clusters today.”

For companies this rapid development in embedded systems means both opportunities and threats, according to Niklas Z Kviselius at the Stockholm School of Economics.

“Embedded systems have already had enor-mous impact in many different industries,” he says. “Telecoms, automotive and manufactur-ing industries are often given as examples, but you can just as well look at how the forestry industry operates today. It has undergone sig-nificant improvement in recent years, with the help of computerized machinery and comput-erized planning.”

Another area with huge potential for using embedded systems is the med-tech industry. And the future is already here. In 2009 two patients, one in Europe and the other in the US, received a unique pacemaker. The shiny small silver device, weighing just 23 grams, has a microcomputer and around 100,000 lines of software code that ensure that patients’ hearts beat at regular intervals and adjust the pulse according to how active the patient is. This in itself is not unusual – the microprocessors and software has been available in pacemakers since the 1990s.

What’s new about this pacemaker is that it allows doctors to monitor patients’ health from a distance, wirelessly via the inter-net. The pacemaker communicates with the hospital’s server at least once a day and when the patient arrives for a routine visit 90 per cent of the work is already done because the doctor has already been able to review the results on the computer in advance. And if the values are out of synch the system can call the case doctor.

“In the future this kind of pacemaker will possibly not only be used for patients with slow heartbeats,” said Doctor Steven Green-berg, head of the St. Francis’ Arrhythmia and Pacemaker Center in New York to Reuters. “We would just as likely be able to monitor high blood pressure, glucose values and heart failure. There are dozens of physiological pa-rameter that we could monitor in the future with this wireless technology. So it’s not just pulse monitoring, but also illness monitoring.”

modern developmenT has meant that compa-nies from a range of sectors today are software companies.

“For Ericsson the majority, as much as 80 per cent, of R&D costs are related to soft-

Accent PAceMAKer it weighs 23 grams and has hundreds of software codes. but what’s revolutionary about this pacemaker is that your doctor can monitor it wirelessly.



About 40 years ago the Volks-wagen 1600 was launched with microprocessors that controlled fuel injection. This

was the first time that embedded sys-tems were introduced in the automotive industry – now 40 years on, electronics in cars cost around the same as the metal used to make them.

sven dahlberg makes embedded systems faster and safer

“There are a lot of embedded systems in modern cars, which is unavoidable,” says Sven Dahlberg, systems designer at Semcon Göteborg.

He works mainly with functional dev-elopment, makes flow models and trans-lates sensor signals for a desired reaction in a car’s system.

“This might be about how the move-

ment from the brake pedal is transferred to the brake system, how the drive ratio and pressure in the engine regulate the amount of fuel injected, how the button you press opens the sunroof and in prin-ciple every electronic function that needs to work in your car.”

Sven Dahlberg and his colleagues’ work often begins with a fairly detailed list of

Vehicles are becoming more and more like mobile computer systems, with increasing demands on system performance. Sven Dahlberg’s job at Semcon is to develop safe, fast and in-telligent systems for the automotive industry.

requirements from the customer. “The customer might come with a de-

scription of how a function needs to react to such things as the press of a button or performance requirements of a function, the share of band width it needs to ac-commodate in a network or the capacity of microprocessors. It might also be that requirements for functions are safety-critical and are not allowed to fail.”

A topical area in the automotive indus-try right now is active safety features, where the embedded systems must work without fail.

“For this type of development it’s important to review the entire system, not just the function you’re working on, in order to see what access you have to redundant sensors so you can swap a faulty sensor. You also need to weigh up how the system reacts if something goes wrong. Is it better to switch off com-pletely or reduce performance?” he says.

Neither is it always obvious that the driv-er needs his attention drawn to every fault that might arise in an embedded system.”

“The challenge for example in a safety system is to hide it until it’s needed. A sys-tem that constantly warns the driver that something’s not working will eventually have the opposite effect. An irritated dri-ver is a bad driver. “

The biggest challenge for the automo-tive industry in terms of embedded sys-tems is however to find room for them.

“Band width in cars is limited and there are an incredible number of signals and information that need communicating, especially in terms of cameras and radar sensors. All systems need therefore to be made smarter and faster and carefully integrated in vehicle networks.

In addition to active safety, assign-ments also include functions for control-ling hybrids and diagnostic functions for engine management.

“Diagnostics systems that sense if elec-trical components are broken and warn other systems is something that’s well developed in the automotive industry and can benefit many other industries,” says Sven. 1

sven Dahlberg develops functions based on auto-motive embedded systems.

text katarina misic photo nicke johansson

age: 39 .Title: systems designer, Electrics & Electronics.office: semcon göteborg.

sven DahlbergfaCts


w


The more complex a system becomes the more difficult it is to handle it using traditional software development.

“This is where model-based development is significantly more effective,” says Lars Bremsjö.

Model-based development has, in

text tobias hammar photo nicke johansson

lars bremsjö believes in models that provide improved quality

recent years, become a popular way of developing software. It builds on the de-veloper describing the construction of the system and its function and behaviour as models, often in the form of graphic images. These are then refined to finally provide system implementation.

Typical of the model process is that

it uses a unified language such as UML (Unified Modelling Language).

“You usually work with many different types of model: such as requirements models, test models and construction models. Common to them all is that they describe our thought process when developing.”

You can actually go as far as generating complete source codes using models – making the model a template for how the software works.

Semcon has extensive experience of model-based development, partly through a number of internal projects and through numerous assignments in the automotive industry.

“The advantage of working with mod-els is that you can improve development-al efficiency. The entire chain from require-ment to finished product becomes both traceable and more easily monitored, meaning you can work faster and more effectively. All constructors work with the same tools, using the same language and database. If you change or add something everyone can immediately see what’s happened,” he says.

“Because the loops become shorter you are able to go in and validate and quality-assure the system at an earlier phase. This is often done by simulating the models with the rest of the system, known as “model-in-the-loop”.

“Model-based development also provides improved quality in the final product. That is one of the main reasons why it has become common practice so quickly in developing safety-critical systems.”

“The more you become friends with this way of modelling the later you need to go into the coding stage. In the past we wanted to start coding immediately, but now we have the luxury of being able to take time thinking about things more. You can become more abstract and work on alternative ways. This generally means fewer bugs – and improved quality in the systems.” 1

model-based development is the future of embedded systems, according to lars bremsjö.

age: 47.Title: senior system architect, Eis by semcon.office: semcon göteborg.

lars bremsjöfaCts

Cheaper, faster, safer and better. There are many benefits of model-based software development where embedded systems are concerned. Lars Bremsjö at Semcon can list them on one hand.

ware,” said Ulf Wahlberg, VP Industry Re-search Relations at Ericsson in a report produ-ced by the Swedsoft organization.

These embedded sysTems not only provide the company with opportunities to streamline production, develop and diversify products, but also to tie customers closer to them. What was once just a physical product now has the ability to include services, subscriptions and updates, thereby allowing for further contact with customers. “But to succeed requires a well thought-out strategy,” according to Niklas Kviselius:

“If companies haven’t already done so they need to sit down and consider: How will this affect our revenue models? Can we add value to our products by using more embedded systems, such as through updates? Might this create complications as more of our products rely on embedded systems? Do we have suf-

n buildings, installations and vehicles that monitor them-selves using embedded sensors in order to discover water damage, cracks and vibrations.

n combine harvesters that supply maps of how well crops are growing in certain parts of the field, known as precision crop management.

n Logistics chains – such as managing airport baggage – where the bag itself sends an alarm if it’s going in the wrong direction. or sends a text message about a change in arrival times.

n goods that tell themselves whether they’ve been damaged by heat or knocks during transport – with-out needing to open the packaging.

AreAs of use for eMBedded systeMs – now And for tHe future

ficient control over the parts we buy in? Do we need to improve our procurement expertise or have more in-house programmers? If one waits too long on these issues it can be difficult? And companies who ignore these opportuni-ties will face a bleak future once the competi-tion has overtaken them.

“The same reasoning also applies in principle to countries and continents,” says Jerker Del-sing, Luleå University of Technology:

“The regions that are a little more successful and that understand this kind of development more than their competitors will have a greater advantage,” he says. “I don’t just mean techni-cal expertise, but rather the understanding of the entire chain: how embedded systems can be used and how they affect society.”

So far it’s Europe that’s leading the race, ac-cording to Jerker.

“Europe currently leads the field in embed-

ded systems. Look for example at the gui-dance system industry today. The four biggest companies are ABB, Siemens, Schneider and Emerson. And the first three of these are Euro-pean. Or look at the Scandinavian dominance in mobile telephony – Nokia in hand units and Ericsson in systems. These companies have succeeded because Europe decided on a differ-ent path than the US and Japan early on, plus there is a culture and expertise of embedded systems in Europe.”

Whether Europe will retain its lead or not remains to be seen but one thing is clear: the potential and significance of future embedded systems shouldn’t be underestimated, espe-cially in terms of safety-critical systems.

The faith in embedded systems that got its breakthrough with the Apollo mission has led to a fantastic technical revolution – now more brave visionaries need to lead this develop-ment further. 1

10n real-time Abs and Esp skid warning system informa-tion from the car and information from weather stations providing the driver with warnings if the road conditions deteriorate.

n outside doors that from the weat-her forecast and family’s diaries can make sure that you don’t forget your umbrella or children’s’ sports equipment.

n products that map out consumer patterns and send information to the manufacturer as input for devel-opment work.

n Portable medical equipment that allows doctors to fol-low your medical progress at a distance. You do not need to call the antenatal department and the midwife will call you when it’s time to be admitted.

n self-inventory warehousing of all kinds: store rooms, libraries, refrigerators etc. new deliveries are order-ed automatically as the goods are running low.

n Electronic marking of surgical material that inhibits lea-ving any equipment inside the body after invasive surgery.


toyotA Prius modern cars are packed full of embedded systems. electrical hybrids like the toyota Prius rely completely on embedded systems in order to optimally utilize their two energy sources.



beRgsäkeR’s measuRing deviCe


explosive measuringBlast-proof, energy-efficient, communicative and easy to adapt. The requirements for Bergsäker’s remote-controlled measuring devices were tough. The company designed a new generation of embedded systems in record time with Semcon’s help. text florence oPPenHeiM

photo roine MAgnusson, nicKe joHAnsson



Large posTers showing extremely tough environ-ments where Bergsäker’s products are used hang in the entrance of the new office in Göteborg. Mines, tunnels, construction sites, alternatively hot and cold environments. Inaccessible

and generally without access to a power supp-ly. Bergsäker AB develops and sells measuring systems and devices that auto-matically me-asure environmental change, such as ground water levels or vibrations caused by blasting. The company is the sector’s market leader in Sweden.

When Anders Wanner took over as the new technical director in August 2008 he was giv-en a clear task: develop a concept to facilitate increased sales volumes, for both Bergsäker’s products and services. He saw early on that the key was an advanced, but standardized device that would be adaptable to all kinds of

transmitters and different markets. The device should also be power-saving, easy to update and remote-controlled.

“We needed to develop a new device very quickly and I realized that we wouldn’t man-age it solely using our own resources,” he explains. “The assignment required specialist expertise and the latest technology. Therefore I contacted EIS by Semcon, who I’d worked with before.”

The new proJecT meanT designing a new gene-ration advanced system for vibration monito-ring when blasting. The results of the measure-ments are used to check that blasting has been carried out cost-effectively and that the vibra-tions caused don’t exceed the legal threshold values. Bergsäker had already started develop-ing a new product, but soon realized that they needed a new mindset to meet future techno-logical, user-friendly and long-term needs.

“Semcon helped by providing a specialist sys-tem architect who helped with requirement spe-

cifications and drew up a list of things needed. Using that as a template I was able to continue and get a mandate to reinforce the project with more external consultants,” he says.

There’s almost no end to what Bergsäker can measure with its instruments. This inclu-des everything from ground water levels and turbidity in water to various flow readings and vibrations. The measuring devices can be put anywhere: construction sites, in homes close to blast areas, or in wet environments.

A major challenge for the project was the uptime. The processors in the devices rely on a constant power supply to work. The new system also uses the Linux operating system, which requires significantly more advanced processors, which in turn uses a lot of power. Some of Bergsäker’s devices can run for 18 months on a single charge of the battery. Com-pare that to the best smart phone with similar processors and imagine how long that would work without recharging it!

The batteries are expensive and haven’t been

Anders Wannerage: 45.Title: technical director.company: bergsäker Ab, göteborg.

fredric moestedtage: 35.Title: senior system Engineer.office: Eis by semcon, göteborg.




able to meet the requirements for long uptime that safe, continuous measuring needs. These instruments are also often in inaccessible loca-tions over long-periods, such as under manhole covers in streets or high up on the front of skyscrapers. The option of long uptimes saves time and money for the customers and provides improved, safer analysis material.

“We worked hard with Semcon to solve the problem and have succeeded very well. Using modern technology cleverly we have designed a significantly safer, more cost-effective prod-uct. This wasn’t even technically possible a couple of years ago,” says Anders Wanner.

The measuring sysTem consists of a transmit-ter that sends signals to a remote-controlled device that looks like an ordinary box. It’s equipped with an inbuilt antenna and embed-ded system that communicates via GPRS to a base station linked to the mobile phone system.

The base station is in turn linked to Bergsäker’s own database, where all infor-mation is gathered and compiled. All com-

munication between the mobile system, base station and Bergsäker’s database are bi-direc-tional and have full control of the process and the products included, apart from the mobile phone network. If they detect a faulty device they can change all the software in the device locally from their office.

It’s also possible to program the device so it sends an SMS to a mobile phone if a prede-termined value is exceeded. Device settings can be done on site using a laptop, either via a direct link or by linking to a website.

“We believe it should be easy for our cus-tomers. We also provide a service where customers can log in and access our server themselves and adjust the devices and read off the results. One example is measuring water levels in the Göta river here in Göteborg, which is carried out once a day and results are compiled on the internet.”

The new inbuilt system consists of a num-ber of building blocks, where each block is made up of a number of digital circuits. Build-ing blocks might be microprocessors with a communication core. Signal processing, i.e.

how the signals sent by transmitters are dealt with, is advanced and looks different, depend-ing on what type of transmitter is used and what standards need to be followed. In the past new software was needed and sometimes even new hardware when used in other countries with different standards. This is now signifi-cantly simpler using a new platform.

The mosT imporTanT improvement is that Bergsäker has a new platform that’s easily adapted and further developed for a number of new applications. In the past Bergsäker created a special solution for each application.

This was Semcon’s first assignment for Bergsäker and a major investment in external expertise. The development phase was com-plex and required both hardware and software specialists, an analogue designer, digital signal management specialists and an experienced system architect. Semcon provided a team of five, each with specialist skills in their respec-tive fields.

Fredric Moestedt is an embedded system specialist, and, with his colleagues, worked with

We have designed a significantly safer, more cost-effective product. This wasn’t even technically possible a couple of years ago.”

Anders Wanner, Technical director, Bergsäker AB

“


one aim in mind: solve Bergsäker’s problem.“We started around New Year and very

quickly solved the challenges we faced. We’ve had excellent dialogue with the customer, who was open to change. This has been necessary because we’ve changed so much to the basic concept.”

The new model with a single platform works somewhat like a computer’s motherboard. Using the Linux operating system it allows an infinite number of variations to the system.

“We chose Linux to avoid the risk of start-ing from scratch again, as we had already begun,” says Fredric. “Linux gave us lots of functions from the start, including advanced communication options. The TCP/IP protocol is already embedded, there’s a file system, USB drive routines, storage media and lots of com-munication options. These are all there and tested in Linux and are almost free of charge, compared to if we were to add it all manu-ally into the system. This is a huge benefit to Bergsäker for future operation and further development.”

The new product will make it easier for

adapting to different customers and make it more cost-effective. It will also quite likely mean that volumes will increase.

Fredric believes that the openness and will-ingness to accept new expertise that Bergsäker showed from the start has been an important ingredient to its success.

“We needed a new mindset, while using the unique expertise that already existed at the company.”

a bonus in working with Semcon was the actual development process. Small companies don’t have the option of a full R&D depart-ment. This in turn often means that the struc-ture for how development work progresses is significantly more loosely connected.

“A functioning development process raises the quality of a project and becomes more cost-effective. My colleagues and I have experience from working in major compa-nies where you often have a more developed structure for processes. In parallel with the main project we’ve been able to show that our development model is a good way of working

in order to quickly and effectively achieve goals. We believe that Bergsäker will benefit from this, even when we’ve finished our task here,” says Fredric.

The developmenT proJecT is in the final phase and the product more than meets the require-ment specification set out by Bergsäker ten months ago. Serial production will be up and running in the near future.

“All that remain now are real field trials on construction sites. The product will then be launched and we’ll continue working on developing new measuring applications using the same platform. Semcon will be working on this completely different project,” says Anders.

The cooperation between Semcon and Berg-säker is ongoing. Bergsäker owns the platform but also has an agreement with Semcon for them to use the platform in their offering to other customers.

“The parameters we’ve worked most with are so general that there are probably many companies that would benefit from the new technology,” says Anders Wanner. 1

bergsäker’s new measuring platform the new standardized platform facilitates:

3 rapid adaptation to different customers’ needs

3 bi-directional communication via gprs

3 Long uptimes

Facts

the solutionhoW semcon solVeD the client’s AssiGnment


tHe cHAllenge: Ikea gave Semcon’s industrial designer Håkan Olsson the task of designing a new series of competitive, inexpensive kitchen knives.

tHe solution: A condition of the challenge was to design a knife that would compare to other quality knife brands and achieve excellent test results. Semcon therefore chose early on to work closely with an ergonomist and restaurant school to come up with a safe, ergonomic and functional knife. The chefs’ and soux chefs’ working position was the starting point for the design of the handle and safety details of the blade in order to avoid personal injury. A proto-type was developed using plexiglas and clay and was tested and approved before being 3D scanned for final approval.

tHe result: The “Gynnsam” knife series, consisting of two chef’s knives, bread knife, peeler knife and filleting knife are now available at Ikea stores around the world.

a sharper, Cheaper Knife

sustAinABle MAteriAls

the blade is made of top quality, grindable steel that provides the feeling of weight and quality, while being sustainable. the handle is made of polyoximethylene that provides an excellent grip. the knife needs to last a long time and is not meant to be a disposable product, which is evident from the choice of materials.


well tHougHt-out HAndle the handle has a tilted end to give a grip that provides a natural position when using it over long periods of time. the challenge here was to add good ergonomics without jeopardising the design. the handle also has a round-headed end to avoid the knife being used to hit things with, as this can cause injury.

sAfe Protection

to protect the user’s hand from the sharp blade the knife has a hilt-guard and a flat surface above the blade that reduces pressure on the thumb. the blade joins the handle with a generous radius that provides a stable grip. the shape of the hilt-guard is softly rounded with a slight tilt to avoid pressure sores on fingers.

coMfortABly BAlAnced

Well-balanced weight between blade and handle is crucial for a quality knife. pilot studies and tests were carried out to determine the opti-mum weight and balance. the division of weight in the handle also means that the handle will always hit the floor first if you drop the knife.

the shape of the blade was also carefully tested to provide the optimal curved shape. chefs and soux chefs rock the blade when chopping and cutting. consider-ation was therefore taken to how they hold the knife when the size and shape of the blade was decided on.

well-designed BlAdes


simulaTor ThaT lifTs off

Thales’ flight simulator needed to be lighter, cheaper and quicker to assemble. Semcon took on the challenge: cut produc-tion costs by 30 per cent and halve lead times.

text dAvid wiles

photo sAM lee


espiTe flying being a relatively safe way of getting from A to B, any nervous

airline passenger can tell you that the list of events that can cause a crash is a long one: engine fires, electrical faults, storms and navigation system failures are just the start. Fortu- nately, should the unthinkable hap-

pen, your pilot has already experi-enced such an emergency – and prob-

ably much worse – over and over again in the relative comfort of a flight simulator

located, if not on terra firma itself, then just a few metres above it on hydraulic legs.

besides saving lives through the rigorous training of pilots – 45 hours in a flight simulator is the legal minimum before they get their wings – these systems also save time and money for an industry where both are at a premium. The economic slowdown has put a stop to what had seemed like irresistible growth for air travel – worldwide passenger numbers expected to shrink by 2.3 per cent this year – and airlines and pilot training centres are looking to reduce their costs while increasing pilot through-put, addressing changing regulations and dealing with growing competition.

At Thales, one of the two globally-leading simulator manu-facturers, the response to these changing circumstances and


iqi Kullarage: 55. Title: product development manager.office: thales training & simulation, crawley, England.

Arthur hillage: 55.Title: managing director of semcon uK.office: semcon uK, Lincolnshire, England.

customer demands was a new integrated pilot training system built around a new flight simulator. The RealitySeven simulator was to be simpler in construction, lighter, faster and easier to assemble. It was to be modular for cheaper shipping and to enable customers to swap between aircraft types without having to buy a new simulator for each, as has been the case to date. To bring this about, Thales Train-ing & Simulation, part of the Thales Group with annual sales of around EUR 13 billion, turned to Semcon UK.

Iqi Kullar, product development director at Thales Training & Simulationin the UK, says that simulators are vital to today’s aviation in-dustry. “The majority of the civil and military training these days is done on simulators, and certainly with the current economic climate they are becoming even more important,” he says. “There is a lot of emphasis today on safety, and for that they are crucial. Simulators give you the opportunity to set up all the pos-sible conditions – weather, malfunctions and so on – so you can train for them, which obvi-ously you can’t do in the real aircraft. Then you just carry on until you get it right.”

like mosT simulaTors, Thales’ existing prod-uct, the C2000X, suffered from the fact that each unit was built from the ground up. Simulators were assembled at Thales’ facili-ties in Crawley in the UK and approved by the authorities and the customer before being stripped down, shipped at great expense – they did not fit into standard containers – and

then rebuilt at the training centre. “The way it was designed made it quite difficult to manu-facture and assemble” says Kullar. “We wanted a design that would allow us to do it at a lower cost and to a shorter schedule.” In concrete terms that meant reducing production costs by 30 per cent and halving lead times. “At the same time we had to ensure that we didn’t lose what we are good at – producing a very reliable, good quality simulator,” says Kullar.

So in stepped Semcon, with a brief to take responsibility for interior and exterior design, 3D modelling and surfacing, structural analy-sis and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation, tooling design and product plan-ning, and supply chain support. “They wanted fresh thinking, so we brought in new ideas and latest best practice from low-volume manu-facturing,” says Arthur Hill, Managing Direc-tor of Semcon UK. “The brief was to make it a


We wanted a design that meant we could do everything at less cost and over a shorter timeframe.”Iqi Kullar, product development manager, Thales Training & Simulation

“

much more comfortable experience for their cus-tomers, a product that was more up-to-date and sellable in today’s marketplace, and reduce the manufacturing cost. They wanted to reduce their assembly time and make it with a lot fewer components.”

Semcon succeeded in reducing the part count on the upper structure of the simulator by about 80 per cent. “By reducing the part count you are reducing the necessity for variation in assembly as well, and here we were bringing our background from the automotive industry,” says Hill.

modularisaTion of the simulator allows Thales to better meet the needs of its customers. The one-aircraft, one-simulator approach used to date inevita-bly leads to what are now unacceptably large investments for the cash-strapped aviation industry. “Our customers were telling us that they wanted modularity and scalability,” says Kullar. “With this concept these modules could in principle be built anywhere in the world and brought together.”

The resulting simulator consists of three parts: a docking station which is the same for all aircraft types; a visual module to give the visual cues to the pilot which is also generic; and an aircraft module which is aircraft spe-cific. So a simulator which one day is training pilots to fly a Boeing 787 can within 72 hours allow them to get to grips with an Airbus A320. “This is a completely new concept which gives more flexibility,” says Hill. “You get a plug-and-play scenario.”

unTil realiTyseven’s launch in February, most simulators had a functional, somewhat static appearance. Often exclusively white in colour, some looked as if they have been chopped out of the upper decks of a cruise liner, giving few clues to their aviation role. “We wanted to make it as aesthetically pleasing as we could, but that was not our top priority,” says Kullar. “The design had to be the result of the other compromises that needed to be made.”

The resulting design has been described variously as looking like something out of an H G Wells novel, or the crash helmet worn by notorious test driver The Stig from TV’s Top Gear. Either way, it oozes motion. “We wanted something more striking than traditional simulator designs,” says Hill. “That is where the ‘bird in flight’ concept came up. When you look at the simulator it looks like it’s going somewhere. And that fitted with it being a flight simulator.”

It was decided during the design process to move away from the existing steel structure

and cladding in favour of an all-composite structure. This also enabled the simulator to be manufactured for shipping in preassembled units and transported in standard contain-ers. The new design and materials allowed the weight to be trimmed from 15 tonnes to 12.5 tonnes.

One of the main gripes from Thales’ cus-tomers concerned the instructor’s area at the rear of the cockpit. “We were told that the instructor’s facilities, the various screens he uses, his chair, how it moves, were very im-portant,” says Kullar. “And this is one of the things that Semcon allowed us to improve because of their experience designing cars and aircraft interiors.”

The response To RealitySeven from the avia-tion industry has been overwhelmingly posi-tive. To date there have been a dozen sales – note that in a good year only about 30 simu-lators are sold by all manufacturers worldwide – six of which were snapped up by Airbus. “At our launch event people were very impressed by what we had to say,” says Kullar. “In a sense we were not only launching a new product, but were really re-launching Thales’ capability as well.”

The resulting simulator addresses the needs of today’s airline training centres: ownership is cheaper, its CO2 footprint is smaller, and it is altogether a more comfortable experience for those putting the pilots of tomorrow through their paces, just in case the unthinkable does happen. 1


Q&a nick hughesmobile seRviCes exPeRt

Advanced technology is all well and good. But to succeed with innovations on growth markets you must under-stand what customers really need on a daily basis. The advice comes from nick hughes, the man responsible for Vodafone’s M-Pesa mobile payment service, which helps millions of Keny-ans send money using their mobiles.

It began in 2003, during a congressional meeting about sustainable development. Nick Hughes started talking to a British government official about how to encourage com-panies to commit to long-term projects outside their core bu-siness areas, but which contri-buted to improving the world.

A seed of thought was sown during the conversation and

four years later – after lots of hard work – the British mobile phone operator Vodafone launched a banking service for Kenyans. Since starting in 2007 M-Pesa, with the M standing for mobile and pesa meaning money in Swa-hili, it’s exceeded all expectations.

By the summer of 2009, 6.5 million Ken-yans have logged on to M-Pesa, which is still

text cHristofer BrAsK

photo MicHAel roBert williAMs

increasing in popularity. Vodafone has also launched similar services in Tanzania and Afghanistan.

“Growth markets have vast numbers of people without any other means of transfer-ring money,” says Nick Hughes.

“In a country like Kenya many people can’t afford a bank account, but M-Pesa provides them with excellent service at a reasonable cost, which is why it’s been so successful. M-Pesa fills a gap, considering all the risks involved in transferring cash. This is a way of doing it cheaply and safely.”

The key reason for its success is that the service is simple to use. Vodafone and its sub-sidiary Safaricom relied on an established SIM based technology rather than to use new more expensive technologies such as 3G or Java.

“This is not the latest technology, but it wasn’t necessary,” he emphasizes.


“There was no point in trying to launch with a marketing slogan along the lines of “mo-bile phone wallet that can store and transfer money,” because that wouldn’t have benefitted these customers. The slogan for the service instead became “Send money home!”

Nick Hughes came to Vodafone from BP in 2001, where he worked on climate issues, long before they became so popular on the political

agenda.“At the be-

ginning of the 1990s envi-ronmental is-sues weren’t as popular as they are now,” he says with a laugh. The step from oil to mobile phones might seem a long one, but there were points of contact. Nick’s duties at BP dealt

a lot with sustainable development, social responsibility and how the company was per-ceived.

“Vodafone was expanding rapidly and quadrupled in just a few short years. I left BP to help them with the following issues: what role should major companies play, and what approach should they take on environmental issues? Vodafone wanted to change its brand and what it stood for.”

M-Pesa is not the mobile operator’s biggest or most profitable business in terms of money. But just as important is that M-Pesa helps social progress, thereby improving Vodafone’s reputation as a socially responsible company.

Nick says that there’s now an abundance of mobile services that are similarly adapted to African consumers’ daily needs.

“Fishermen can get the current prices in various ports so they know where to go to get the best price for their catch. There are similar services for farmers. In West Africa there is a service where you link up to a database using your mobile phone. You then write in what you work with, such as gardener or brick-layer, and in what area you are willing to work at short notice. You get a text message reply saying “four bricklayers needed” or “gardening

work for one week”. The person who calls back first gets the job. This is a service that is com-pletely built on market conditions. These are people who use mobile phones that cost $10 and that give them the opportunity to arrange work quickly. It’s very exciting.”

do any of these mobile services that have been so successful in africa have a future in europe?

“The technology would work of course, but success is more dependent upon the strength of the customer need and in Europe today there are lots of ways to move money around. In emerging markets there aren’t many ways at all. We will see the consumer there leap-frogging to quite sophisticated, light touch methods such as M-Pesa and doing so in high numbers. These people aren’t interested in games and ring tones, but services that make their lives easier.”

what’s the key for understanding a growth market for anyone working with innovations?

“It’s easy to get excited about new technolo-gy. But it’s not actually technology that makes a successful product, but the way in which you find a use for it to match the needs of the consumer. That’s exactly what happened with M-Pesa.”

nick hughes believes there will be more successful mobile service projects on growth markets around the world.

nick hughesmobile seRviCes exPeRt Q&a

age: 42.lives: Winchester, England.family: Three children – 6, 13 and 17.education: PhD, Applied Science (1992) and MBA from the Lon-don Business School (2001).interests: “Long walks in beau-tiful surroundings, spending time with the children and fine wines.” reading: Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell.listens to : The Killers, Paulo Nu-tini, Ray Lamontagne and “a mix from my daughter’s iPod”. mobile services he uses: Google maps, AQA.

nick hughesfaCts


what’ the biggest mistake you can make on a growth market?

“Being too focused on advanced technology. People often turn up with too expensive, ad-vanced equipment – with the best of inten-tions of course. But that mindset moves you too far from the consumers.”

can you give an example of a real failure? “A few years ago a major multinational

company created “the digital village”. The idea was: “We have all the technology required to make a huge difference to these people’s lives”. They connected entire villages and provided them with the best equipment imaginable. But it wasn’t relevant to these people and how they lived. They didn’t have time for it and ultimately didn’t spend any money on it. The beautiful digital villages just stood there col-lecting dust and rust.”

what should this company have done instead? “You need to get a worm’s-eye view of the

market. You really need to consider what will make a difference to these people, what they’d be prepared to spend a little money on. The “digital village” example shows that it’s not a question of providing them with equipment, or even the opportunity to communicate. You must consider: What will they use this tech-nology for? That’s the difference. It is about identifying the important things they find difficult to do and making them be able to do it easier, cheaper or better. We need to find services that they really need, in relation to what’s most fundamental in their lives: finding work, staying healthy, getting electricity…

Sounds easy doesn’t it? We all have a tendency of getting excited about technical progress, but it’s the daily application of the technology that’s the thing.”

what areas, apart from mobile services, do you see potential in?

“There are exciting things happening in the energy sector where companies are trying to develop solutions for providing people with clean energy. I can recommend CK Pralahad’s book “The fortune at the bottom of the pyra-mid” – there are lots of people who survive on

$2 a day and we need to ask ourselves: How do we create products for them? Products that are profitable for your company, while contributing positively towards development? Over the past five years we’ve seen interesting opportunities open up. Mobile technology suits perfectly, because it’s low-cost and a low threshold for people to become connected to mobile networks. I mean, you can buy a mobile phone in Mombasa for $10.”

some products are hopelessly more expen-sive than $10. say that you were being re- cruited by an automotive manufacturer like volvo – how would you use your experiences from kenya?

“Look at the ‘1 lakh’ car from India, the Tata Nano. That’s the whole point. All the cars are very cheap, but we can sell thousands of them! Instead of packing the product full of all kinds of technology to attract a small percentage of the market we can eliminate the technology and keep the cost per unit down to a minimum.

It will be exciting to see if the Tato Nano eventually comes to Europe. That would pos-sibly mean a car costing as little as €5,000, with students as the target group. It’s actually the same thing with cars as with mobile ser-vices: target volumes and keep it simple.”

but europeans are somewhat more vain when we buy things aren’t we?

“Absolutely. We have the luxury of being able to choose not only the products that we really need, but also the ones that we think are really interesting. We designed a mobile phone a long time ago that we thought would attract the older consumer, but it was a flop, despite it being inexpensive and easy to use. In our part of the world we believe we need to have the best: “Oh, I’m not that old. I don’t want a telephone that simple.” We don’t mind paying for extra functions, even if we never use them. On a growth market people don’t reason that way: Is this product useful to me? Will it ben-efit me? They are not as affected by brands or vanity. Companies from the West must adapt when operating in growth markets because consumers’ behavior is very different.”

Fishermen can get the current prices in various ports so they know where to go to get the best price for their catch.”Nick Hughes, mobile services expert

if you had a billion dollars to invest where would you put your money?

“I’d definitely invest in a growth market. I’d invest in consumer-related services – very simple, inexpensive and go for high volume. I believe we’re going to see numerous ma-jor deals coming out of the service sector on growth markets. It could be health or the ban-king sector or work agencies.”

This type of investment is, as it turns out, exactly what Nick Hughes is now working on. He stopped working for Vodafone during the summer to start up an advice and investment company, Signal Point Partners, aimed at mo-bile services on growth markets. The starting point might seem tough considering many major companies have frozen their invest-ments in the wake of the recession.

“But the timing is perfect,” he says. “This is the time to invest heavily.” 1

1 Banking services “More sophisticated systems than M-Pesa with the addition of the possibility for

customers to save small amounts. What bank would see the business potential if I want to save USD 3 per week? I believe we will be seeing a new way of thinking by a number of banks in this area.”

2 HealtH-related services“A sector where information is important,

but often overlooked. We’ll be seeing systems where information is both collected and spread over vast areas at little cost.”

3 services aimed at small companies“I believe that the mobile phone will

be able to replace the laptop for them. We’ll be seeing a series of services aimed at small com-panies. This might be for loans, advice and sales … There’s a huge potential in this area.”

mobile systems with potential3

“


text dAvid wiles

photo cHristoPH MAderer

bmw z4 – hooKed on a feelingIt’s no ordinary car, and neither was developing it. The team behind the new BMW Z4 faced extraordinary challenges in order to create the standard by which future projects will be judged.


that is a conqueror – that can win customers from our competitors. So the new Z4 was to be positioned in another way to its predeces-sor. The first Z4 was very sporty, but the new Z4 is also more comfortable – but still highly emotional.”

With the concept for the new Z4 establish-ed on the drawing board, one of BMW’s first major decisions, in mid 2006 after concept confirmation and before entering series devel-opment, was to bring in an external engine-ering partner. That partner should take care of the design and development as well as the functional deployment of the body-in-white, doors, flaps and bumpers, as well as optimisa-tion of components and some testing, and the management of the series development teams.

“We needed a partner with a lot of knowl-edge of body-in-white development, who could not just work on demand but deliver their own solutions proactively” says Ger-hard Schmidmayer. “We did a benchmark of

moTion is a word that often crops up in discussions about roadsters. The combination of the wind in your hair and the growl of a straight-six generates a range of sen-sations: joy, exhilaration, freedom and pride a mong them. However it is not all roadsters that can elicit this magical mix of feelings. To

get emotion from a car when you drive it, ac-cording to BMW’s Gerhard Schmidmayer, you have to put emotion into it. And that is exactly what happened during the development of the German manufacturer’s new Z4.

“There was this feeling in the whole project team – everyone had this desire to make the best roadster in the world,” he says. “It was a very personal experience for me, and a feeling that I have never had in any other car project.”

With that passion the team created a ro-

adster which has won awards and been hailed by the motoring press – and all in the face of a chain of one-off events during development which could easily have derailed a less driven team.

bmw began producTion of its first Z4 at its plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina in 2002. Four years later it was followed by a coupe version. At the end of 2008 BMW announced a single model to replace both, the new Z4, which was to be a more grown-up version of its predecessors; “the rebirth of the roadster”, according to the company. It would have better performance but also be more luxurious, with a two-piece retractable hardtop making it both a roadster and a coupe.

“The roadster segment is stable in terms of volumes,” says Gerhard Schmidmayer, the project manager for the Z4s bodywork struc-ture, body-in-white, who has worked at BMW for nearly three decades. “So we needed a car

e

Gerhard schmidmayerage: 52 .Title: project manager for the new bmW z4 body-in-white.drives: bmW z4.

stefan von czarneckiage: 35.Title: project manager for the bmW z4 at semcon.drives: bmW 5-series touring.



the market and saw that Semcon was the best partner to do this project with.”

as a sTandalone model not interlinked with any other cars in BMW’s line-up, there was more freedom for the new Z4 team than if they had been working on, say, the 3-Series or 5-Series with their numerous derivatives. But as a roadster there were specific demands on the project.

“You have a very sporty and high perform-ance car so you need to have a lot of function-ality and performance within the body-in-white itself, in terms of body stiffness, torsion and weight,” says Stefan von Czarnecki, Semcon’s project leader for the Z4. “And you also have to have a very high-quality appear-ance and maximum customer added value in the appearance and the functionality in com-parison with competing vehicles.”

Switching from a soft-top to a hardtop cab-riolet roof without compromising the classic roadster profile would be a challenge. The chosen solution was a two-piece lightweight alu-minium shell which opens and closes within 20 seconds at the touch of a button.

“Some of the competitors only achieved this with a high boot lid, but the Z4 was to have a very low, flat boot lid,” says Gerhard Schmid-

mayer. “You wouldn’t expect this car to have a hardtop if you saw it open.”

The fact that there is no permanent roof to stabilise the car structure was also an issue to solve.

“For stabilising the structure you have to increase the stiffness in the lower structure, unlike in a touring or a sedan where you can use it like a tube,” says Gerhard Schmidmayer. The resulting solution was a basic body-shell which is a full 25 per cent stiffer than on the first Z4.

Achieving this was not just a matter of throwing more bulk into the structure, as that would have a knock-on effect on the all-im-portant handling and performance.

“You always need to find the solution which fits the different variables; the cost, the func-tionality, the weight, and the performance,” says Stefan von Czarnecki.

even before semcon got on board, the Z4 pro-ject was thrown a curveball. Start of produc-tion (SOP) was to be a full seven months ear-lier than on a standard development project, and the reason was simple: the weather. While most types of car can in theory be launched at any time of year, it makes sense that you want to coordinate the launch of a roadster with the sun coming out.

“You need to hit the beginning of the season when people are keen to buy this kind of car and start using it immediately,” says Stefan von Czarnecki. “Entering the programme everyone knew it was going to be a challenging task to meet this schedule.”

To do so meant fewer hardware build stages and a reduced number of prototypes but with increased use of virtual development.

“It was very important to get the results earlier so we had to do the development in a highly-efficient way,” says Stefan von Czar-necki. “So we changed the priorities of the open issues. You basically have to do the most important things first.”

a second significanT challenge arose in May 2007, about a year into the project, when the decision was taken to switch production from Spartanburg in the US to Regensburg in Ger-many. The convertible 3-Series was already under production at the German plant and the move was the result of BMW designating Regensburg as its competence centre for cab-riolets. In the same way, production of the X3 moved to Spartanburg so that experience and competence in the X range of SUVs could be concentrated at that factory. A different plant means different manufac-

We needed a car that conquers, that can win over customers from our competitors.”Gerhard Schmidmayer, project manager body-in-white BMW Z

“

4


turing processes, which means changes to the way the structure of the car is designed.

“These plants are two different worlds,” says Gerhard Schmidmayer. “They have different assembly processes and different body-in-white processes.” For example, when designed for production in the US, the front end of the Z4 was assembled on the production line. In Germany, with that plant’s higher degree of automation, the front end was to be preassem-bled by a supplier and brought complete to the production line.

“Also to put a seat into the car is completely different at Spartanburg and Regens-burg,” says Gerhard Schmidmayer. The US plant has a higher level of manual process, while in Germany there is more automation.

“So you have adapted to the layout of the production line in Spartanburg and you need to check whether production line in Regens-burg is capable of assembling the parts as you have planned, or whether you have to adapt some processes in Regensburg to the car,” says Stefan von Czarnecki. “We had a quite intense shift and quick but sophisticated verification of the features of the car and whether they fit the production capabilities.”

Next into the mix was the looming cred-it crunch and associated global economic

downturn, with all that that entailed for the automotive industry.

“BMW was two steps ahead of other OEMs in recognising the situation before the crisis really kicked in,” says Stefan von Czarnecki. “We had budget restrictions for the project and so decided on which content we could leave out, where we could optimise solutions and look for synergies, and achieve all the targets. But because of our highly-efficient approach and processes we managed to deliver the project within budget – even within the budget reductions. And the end product did not suffer at all as a result.”

budgeT cuTs, shorTened time schedules and shifts in production: surely the new Z4 project became a nightmare as start of production neared? Not at all. In fact, the project has be-come a new benchmark within BMW. At start of production Gerhard Schmidmayer had pin-ned up a poster in the project area proclaiming the successful status that the project team had achieved: “Imagine it’s SOP and no one has noticed”, it read.

“Normally when you are approaching SOP it’s a really stressful time,” says Stefan von Czarnecki. “You have five people sitting around a table, each with a red flag, and each of

them is thinking ‘I’m not going to make SOP’, and waiting for someone else to raise their flag first.”

But that didn’t happen. More than 70 people involved on the body-in-white, of whom 60 working for Semcon; 700 individual parts for Semcon to coordinate, manage, design, matur-ate; plus a full load of different requirements from legal, performance and dimensional management standpoints. And just as the pos-ter said, SOP passed largely unnoticed.

“We had all the problems identified and un-der control,” says Gerhard Schmidmayer. “We managed to have this really smooth and pro-fessional launch process which no one really recognised. Everybody was surprised when we said: OK, that’s it. Job done.”

ThaT spiriT, ThaT emoTion which the project team brought with them and infused the Z4 with during 28 months of series development must really have been something. They over-came unexpected challenges and emerged as the standard by which future BMW projects will be judged. Asked if he can describe in more detail exactly what that emotion was, really put his finger on the feeling which made the Z4 what it is today, Schmidmayer laughs and answers: “Drive it and you’ll find out!” 1

shape and design are key factors for a success-ful roadster.

the new bmW Z4 is both sporty and comfortable.

text MAgnus Pettersson, AdAM svAnell, toBiAs HAMMAr

photo KArsten tHorMAeHlen, Alex&MArtin PHotogrAPHs,

nicKe joHAnsson

seMcon BrAins


Climate chamber expert

it can be as cold as in siberia at Semcon in Bad Friedrichshall in Germany.

“In our climate chamber where we test cars against the cold we vary the temperature from +95°C to -40°C and also regulate the humidity. We cover every sort of climate possible,” says test manager Ulrich Walther.

Cold testing, which is a part of Semcon’s testing activities in Bad Freidrichshall, is important from a safety aspect, and the results go straight back to the manufacturers. Daimler, VW, Audi and BMW are among the customers that Ulrich and his team look after.

“Modern cars are sold throughout the world. A VW Golf can be driven in Saudi Arabia and Sweden. That’s where the major challenge lies,” says Ulrich, “making sure that the vehicle works when it’s crispy cold or boiling hot.”

“These tests mean we don’t need to worry about the sea-sons and weather and we save time and money on travelling to far off countries.”

We sometimes test individual parts like electric windows and windscreen wipers. But the climate chamber is five and a half metres long, which allows us to roll the entire car in and test it.

Ulrich and his team only rarely have to enter the chamber. Most tests are carried out with the help of temperature stable machines.

“I find this type of work more interesting and varied than just working in front of computer screens,” he says.

ulrich Walther, 40, engineer and testing manager, semcon bad friedrichshall


These tests mean we are not dependent on the seasons or weather.”

“


seMcon BrAins

Alexandra teterin probably didn’t think when she was lit-tle that she’d be working with high-pressure presses. She describes herself as the inventive type who’s always liked coming up with clever products. But when on assignment at Avure Technologies in Västerås, Alexandra developed a liking for machine construction.

“I realized how much fun it was working on tried and tested concepts that other people have spent 50 years developing.”

The concept, known as the Quintuspress, is an industrial high-pressure press. The presses that Alexandra works on are used for applications in the food industry and her job is to redesign construction according to customer requirements.

“We have a standard range, but adjustments are often needed. In practice this means we construct a unique press for each customer.”

What the presses do is to extend the shelf life of the food without the need for additives, by placing packaged goods under extreme pressure.

“It’s a very cool process. We can achieve pressures of up to 6,000 bar, equivalent to 60 kgs of weight on every square millimetre of the press cylinder.”

This pressure kills harmful microorganisms, but allows the product to retain colour, shape and taste.

Alexandra herself admits that she had a different picture of how the process was done when she first came to Avure.

“When someone mentioned that they press guacamole, I imagined that they placed an avocado in a press so it came out mashed. I now realize that the high-pressure presses are used on the finished product!”

alexandra teterin, 28, industrial design engineer, semcon eskilstuna.

high-pressure expert


Patrick ohlsson and martin brankell know what it means to manage vast amounts of information. They’ve come up with the system that mon-itors the electric driveline of Volvo’s and Vattenfall’s joint “Green Car Project”, which aims to introduce a completely new plug-in hybrid car to the market by no later than 2012.

“We’ve developed the tools needed

to monitor and evaluate the demo cars that will be tested over two years in “live” traffic. In general it’s about gathering all the data about how the cars are driven and used, how much they’re charged and how the batteries work at different temperatures,” says Martin Brankell, electronics engineer at Semcon Göteborg.

In concrete terms the project in-

volves developing a computer for the car that can gather and analyse data about the car and how it’s used and to develop a server that can receive information sent continually from the car’s computer. The client is battery development company ETC from Nol, just north of Göteborg.

“For me the biggest challenge was selecting the right hardware for the

network system. There are many diffe-rent types of solution and we needed to come up with a system that was robust and reliable,” says Patrick, Ohlsson, test engineer at Semcon Göteborg.

“But it’s been incredibly stimulating. It’s not every day you get to set up a system from scratch in this way,” says Patrik.

Patrick ohlsson, 33, test engineermartin brankell, 34, electronics engineer, semcon göteborg

electrical supervisors


Land Rover’s new stop/start system is innovative and effective if used correctly. Semcon was assigned to develop a training course for technicians and sales represen-tatives prior to the launch of the company’s new 10MY Freelander. text gittAn cedervAll

photo sAM lee

sTop!sTarT! drive!


ian Griggage: 37. Title: technical writer, training developer.office: semcon, Kineton, uK.

ian luckettage: 49. Title: training development manager.office: Jaguar Land rover trainingAcademy, Leamington, uK.

s The launch of Land Rover’s new 10MY Freelander, featuring the company’s first ECO engine stop/start system drew closer,

the company faced the chal-lenge of how to train a sub-

stantial numbers of Land Rover technicians in all global markets and in all languages to deal with the inevitable forthcoming system and operational queries from customers. Although the Freelander isn’t a new car, the stop/start system is new, very new. So new, in fact that it needed to be introduced not only to the customers but also to those working with the product and within the industry.

Designed and developed to reduce fuel con-sumption and CO2 emissions, the new system has to be understood and more importantly used by customers in order to be effective and thereby appreciated and successful. Land Rov-er technicians, and to some extent sales staff, have to be able to explain how the intelligent system works and why.

“Because the stop/start system is such a new feature, we realised at an early stage that we needed to get an important message across.

And, that if we didn’t achieve this quickly, customers may perceive that the system was not functioning correctly when in fact the is-sue was a characteristic,” explains Ian Luckett, Training Development Manager at Jaguar Land Rover’s Training Academy in Leamington, England, who was responsible for commission-ing the new training course.

The sTop/sTarT Technology shuts down the engine and seamlessly restarts it when re-vquired, especially in congested traffic, whilst not compromising other features and technologies. In-car entertainment, climate con-trol, Bluetooth, driver information and other electronic systems will continue to function even when the engine has shut down. To ensure that such services continue uninter-rupted in a stop situation, Land Rover also developed technologies such as a new voltage quality module, a battery monitoring system, a brake vacuum sensor and an enhanced climate control system to support the new stop/start system.

The intelligent system is activated automat-ically every time the vehicle is started, but can

be de-activated at any time via a switch on the fascia. Therefore, if drivers perceive that it is not working properly, they might decide to switch it off and then miss out on its benefits and start questioning why it is there at all.

To further complicate matters, the system could be inhibited automatically for many rea-sons. For example, a low battery charge condi-tion, a misted wind shield, if the Freelander’s Hill Descent Control or any of its Terrain Response off-road programmes are selected. Such intelligent design features can confuse drivers who cannot understand why the engine stops sometimes, but not always, in situations that might seem very similar.

To help optimise economy at any time and anywhere, an ingenious gearshift indicator light in the instrument panel also advises the driver when selecting a higher gear would im-prove fuel consumption.

“It’s a very intelligent system and if not fully understood, customers may very easily think it is not working correctly. I had to develop a thorough training programme for technicians so that they would be able to con-fidently explain to customers why the system


acts the way it does,” explains Ian Grigg, at Semcon’s office in Kineton, England, who de-veloped the training course.

having worked as a technical trainer for a number of years, Ian Grigg felt confident he could develop and deliver a suitable training course that met its primary objectives, al-though he was a new recruit at Semcon and this was his first project for the company.

“I was in close contact with engineers at Land Rover who communicated and explained all features of the system to me. After con-siderable research I was able to compose the course and deliver a pilot training event to all Land Rover trainers,” he says.

Ian Grigg’s pilot training was an instant success. Very few changes were made to the training course before it could be used to train technicians at Land Rover Learning Centres around the world

“Our trainers were very impressed and we could more or less take the whole package Ian had developed and start using it,” confirms Ian Luckett.

Land Rover technicians work on four levels, those on level one have relatively basic skills whereas those on level four are very highly skilled. The training course had to fit all lev-els and give technicians confidence if they are required to discuss operation direct with a customer. It was decided that the training would run as a one-day course for 8-10 stu-dents at a time.

“The technicians arrive in the morning at the Jaguar Land Rover Training Academy and the day begins with an interactive classroom session delivered on a Power Point presenta-tion. This theoretical part actually takes most of the morning, but the afternoon’s work is more practical and hands-on,” says Ian Grigg.

After lunch, the participants are divided into three groups – whilst one group experiences driving the car on the open road for them-selves, another one looks at various customer scenarios created to recap the theory covered

per for technicians to undertake a 40 minute computer based training course in the comfort and convenience of their own workshop and this at least provides them with a very basic level of information.

Landrover started delivering Semcon’s course in early 2009, some 6-8 weeks before the vehicles first became available to customers in March/April of this year.

“The feedback we’ve had from participants of the course has been very positive, in fact, it has achieved a much higher score than most courses of this kind. The participants are con-firming that they feel much more confident that they can handle questions from custom-ers after the course,” says Ian Luckett.

Ian Grigg is, of course, very pleased with the praise, especially since he was able to prove his worth in his first project for his new employer, Semcon.

“The main purpose of training is to increase job performance. My goal is to design training that is informative, interactive, stimulating and most important enjoyable. If I can achieve this, then I can be sure it will be effective,” concludes Ian Grigg. 1

in the classroom, and the third group takes a detailed look at the electronic element of the system and various methods to diagnose it.

“One of the things I have been very pleased with is that the course promotes discussions around issues such as whether it is worth using systems like stop/start, from an economic as well as environmental perspective,” says Ian Grigg.

The reducTion in fuel consumption and CO2 emissions has clearly impressed at least Bri-tish authorities, as the road tax has been re-duced for Freelanders fitted with the stop/start system, providing another financial incentive to customers.

“We insisted on technicians from all dealers in the UK going through the training course before we actually delivered the vehicles to them. The training course was also supported by an e-learning programme specifically devel-oped to compliment the classroom training – this was also created and delivered by Sem-con,” says Ian Luckett.

The aim is for most Land Rover technicians around the world to take part in the training day. So far, between 500 and 600 UK based technicians have at-tended training courses at the Jaguar Land Rover Training Academy in Leamington. With some 1,200 Land Ro-ver technicians in the country, the company is just about half-way to its goal in the UK.

The course has also been translated into several languages for use in markets around the world. The global training programme is a more substantial task and here the e-learning programme helps as it is very easy and far chea-

Land RoveR’s effeCtive stop/staRt system: Land rover’s stop/start sys-tem is available as standard on all manual diesel free-lander 2 models.

the system reduces co2 emis-sions by 7.7 per cent compared to the previous model.

the estimated fuel economy is 37.7 mpg (7.5 l/100km) to 42.2 mpg (6.7l/100km) in combined driving, which is an improvement of 10.7 per cent.

Because the stop/start system is such a new function we soon realized that we needed to convey an important message.”Ian Luckett, Jaguar Land Rover Academy in Leamington, England

“

semCon uPdateWhAt’s GoinG on in semcon’s WorlD


semcon has collaboraTed with the Umeå Institute of Design sin-ce 2008. In the spring of 2009 it was time for this year’s crop of master students to show off their degree work in the field of transport design. Student Doojin Choi from South Korea caused a lot of attention with his visionary Bugatti.

“My starting point was to try and envision what the world will look like in 2050, what we can keep from today’s automotive industry in a future where we need to deal with environmental problems we’re experiencing today.”

Doojin imagines that cars will be replaced by automatic public transport and the only way of getting a personal driving experience will be on special tracks or in the desert.

“What I would like to see in the future would be the experience you get today from your vehicle, the sensation of speed, of man and machine working together for it to go faster.”

The result was an organic vehicle, the Bugatti Morpheus, that grows with its owner and adapts to different environments. The design is inspired from the natural world and human anatomy.

“The car has a spine as its chassis, around which the car grows. The spine changes the vehicle to suit different heights depending on what terrain you are driving in.”

Doojin Choi hopes to continue working with car and transport de-sign somewhere in the world. It remains to see if Bugatti snaps up his vision of the future. 1

Design students reveal the cars of the future

semcon has received more orders from FMV (the Swedish Defence Material Administration), valued at EUR 580 000 with an option for a further EUR 1 million. The order is for 12 specially developed composite containers designed for the Swedish special forces.

Semcon is responsible for development, testing, certification, documentation and calculation of the multifunctional com-posite containers.

“We’ve worked with FMV since 2000 and are extremely pleased that they have such faith in us. The containers we develop contain complex, advanced technology and we look forward to remaining at the cutting edge of the continued development of the armed forces,” says Peter M Nilsson, Area Manager at Semcon in Karlskrona.

The multifunctional composite containers can be used for such things as workshops, storage, first aid and supply con-tainers and have been developed and designed for technical and safety use. They’ve also been used as operating theatres, which places very strict demands. Two standard models can,

New composite containers for FMV


floorball has been popular for a long time in Sweden. The new sport of free-bandy has now started to spread. The idea for the sport came about three years ago and Semcon was called in by its creators Zii, to help with product development of the clubs and most recently the wall mounted goals.

“The difference between freebandy and floorball is that there aren’t a lot of rules

semcon is helping to put freebandy on the map

David Orth, former head of CAE in Sweden, has been chosen as the new head of Semcon India. The office in Bangalore recently re-ceived a safety-related simulation assignment for a German auto-motive supplier, which resulted in new job opportunities.

“We also have a growing col-laboration with an Asian car manufacturer, where there is a huge need of the expertise we can provide,” he says.

Semcon has seen success in a number of competitions recently. Zooma by Semcon was nominated for the Swedish Design Award for its work on websites for Kapp-Ahl, J.Lindeberg and the Ericsson Racing Team. Semcon’s customer magazine, Future by Semcon and the Annual Reports have been nominated for the Swedish Design Awards. Future by Semcon has also been nominated for the Swedish Publishing Award.

The National Rail Administra-tion assigned Semcon Project Management to train for Scrum, a method used for development projects.

“Scrum enables projects to run more quickly, with improved quality and it’s also less expensive. It sounds too good to be true, but I’ve seen it myself many times,” says Nils Åkervall, trainer for Sem-con Project Management.

Car Magazine, “The world’s best motoring magazine” has tried out the 382-page manual for the Jaguar XF, produced by Semcon Informatic. The magazine’s editor was impressed by the well-arranged, informative Jaguar manual. “Wonderfully free of mumbo-jumbo.”

new head of semcon india

semcon nominations

national rail Administration runs scrum project

car magazine likes car manuals

ph

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for the design of the club and goal. This made developing them much more fun,” says Robert Andersson, product developer at Semcon. The club has a hole at the front of the blade that traps the ball to facilitate a Zorro sidestep, which means moving the ball around in the air without it ever leaving the blade. The goals also look diffe-

rent, with three goal nets of different sizes that provide different points.

Zii has travelled to schools around Swe-den to launch the new sport and Semcon has sponsored with clubs.

“55,000 clubs have been sold in two years. Many children we meet in the schools already own a club even though they may not understand the rules,” says Mikael Oliw at Zii. 1

fourth and fifth grade students at nygårdsskolan

outside Göteborg playing freebandy.

through various options be tailored to suit customers re-quirements. The composite containers are very complex and have a variety of functions such as EMC protection, heat and cold, electrical centres and Ro-Ro frames.

Semcon has so far supplied almost 180 containers worth around EUR 9 million. Some of the containers are currently being used by Swedish special forces in the Congo, Chad, Afghanistan, Kosovo and Somalia. 1

Your global partner in engineering services and product information www.semcon.com

future ny semcon #2 2009

Documents

new industries

new opportunities

new bmw z4

new markets

new conditions

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