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(PRWEB) September 27, 2003

Southampton, UK (PRWEB) September 25, 2003 – ICEM Ltd., the leading 3D surface modeling software developer, announced today that its ICEM Surf software suite enabled Lotus Engineering to achieve a ‘first’ for the company during the development of the Elise ll sports car. ICEM eliminated the time and expense required to develop a physical verification model stack. ICEM software enabled the developers to move straight from a final digital surface model to a production tooling design for the vehicle’s body. The result was a valuable saving in man-hours, far fewer physical prototypes and a consequent reduction in development costs.

ICEM Surf was used throughout the Elise ll body design development process from concept development, through surface engineering and Class A surfaces development, to final production tooling design. The software’s real-time rendering and visualization facilities were used as the design progressed and particularly in the latter stages, to verify the design on the screen. Once the final design was agreed and signed off, surface data was released to engineering for use directly in the production tooling design process.

“It’s all about having confidence in the integrity of your digital model”, said Phil Hayden, surface development manager, Lotus Engineering. “With ICEM Surf, what you see on the computer screen is what you will get in reality. Unlike the usual solid modeling CAD systems, ICEM Surf enables you to develop and view components in their correct proportion to each other, as if you had a physical model. It also enables you to dynamically ‘tweak’ and refine the model with great accuracy and to immediately see the results of your actions. It’s these capabilities that gave us the confidence that our final surface model of the Elise ll was correct, enabling us to by-pass the usual physical stacking model verification process.”

ICEM Surf enabled Lotus to adopt a concurrent engineering approach to the development of the Elise ll. The design development of the car’s ‘customer visible’ surfaces and the detailed engineering design of the vehicle’s underlying structure were accomplished in parallel.

About Lotus Engineering

Along with Lotus Cars and Lotus Motorsport, Lotus Engineering is part of the world-famous Group Lotus – a group of automotive-related divisions producing world-class products and services. Employing more than 1,000 engineers and technicians, Lotus Engineering boasts the most comprehensive and well-balanced automotive engineering skills portfolio of any engineering consultancy in the world. These skills enable Lotus Engineering to take a project from initial concept, through every stage of design, development and testing and even to manufacture of the final product. As a result, nearly every major car manufacturer in the world has at one time or another commissioned work from Lotus Engineering; in 2003, 10% of all new cars made in Europe will be powered by a Lotus-developed engine. And through its research division, Lotus Engineering is at the forefront of automotive technology for the future.

About ICEM Ltd.

With its headquarters in the UK, ICEM Ltd. is the leading worldwide developer and supplier of advanced, surface-based modeling software for use in the design and development of automotive vehicle bodies and interiors and consumer durable products. The company has a worldwide network of sales and support offices and specialist distributors covering continental Europe, the USA, Australia and the Asia Pacific region.

ICEM’s principal market sector is the worldwide automotive industry, where it includes most of the leading manufacturers among its customers, including the Ford Motor Company, DaimlerChrysler Group, Volkswagen Audi Group, Porsche, BMW, PSA Peugeot Citroën, Nissan, Subaru and Harley Davidson among others, as well as leading automotive industry companies such as Volke, EDAG, Pininfarina, Bertone and Bertrandt, among many others. The company also has a significant presence in the consumer durable products design market.

Editorial contacts:

Kate Mills,

+44 (0)2380 768088

kate.mills@icem.com

Neil McLeod,

+44 (0)1666 504293

neil_mcleod@compuserve.com

US Contact:

Ken Feitz

Strategic Reach PR

303.487.7406

ken@strategicreachpr.com

ENDS

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