Workhorse Group, an American technology company focused on pioneering the transition to zero-emission commercial vehicles, has adopted the Siemens Xcelerator portfolio of industrial software, enabling the company to streamline activities across its development teams and supply chain as it builds electric trucks for sustainable last-mile delivery.
Workhorse Group launched its lineup of medium-duty electric work trucks with the help of Teamcenter X software for cloud-based Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), and NX software for vehicle product engineering and manufacturing. “Standardising on NX and Teamcenter X has allowed us to integrate our design, engineering and supply chain functions efficiently,” said Jeff Mowry, chief information officer at Workhorse Group. “Previously, our multi-CAD environment was costly and required extra resources. With Siemens, we’ve eliminated these inefficiencies, and can focus on building complex electric trucks more effectively.”
Workhorse was able to implement Teamcenter X software as a service (SaaS) quickly, which helped solve the time pressure in engineering its flagship product, the Workhorse W56 all-electric step van. In collaboration with Siemens partner, PROLIM, Workhorse was able to get into production with PLM using dramatically fewer IT resources than required by traditional on-premises legacy solutions.
“Using Siemens’ tools, we are able to manage our intricate bill of materials and engineering change notices, which is key given the dynamic nature of electric vehicle production,” Mowry added. “This strategic move has not only lowered our operational costs, but also strengthened our ability to protect intellectual property and ensure cybersecurity.”
“Workhorse standardised on NX combined with Teamcenter X because it delivers the design, integration, and data control functions we require to support vehicle production, product development and manufacturing for any range of product production volumes,” said vice president of engineering, Dave Bjerke. “Siemens Xcelerator is the digital foundation at the core of our business processes, enabling Workhorse to leverage its capabilities, and achieve the innovation at a scale and pace that we need to achieve our targets.”
“Workhorse is a great example of how innovative startups can transform the transportation and electrification industry with the right digital foundation,” said Nand Kochhar, vice president of Automotive and Transportation at Siemens Digital Industries Software. “By leveraging the Siemens Xcelerator portfolio with its cutting-edge design tools, backed up with a secure, robust and scalable data management platform, Workhorse is making incredible progress toward bringing electric vehicles for last-mile delivery to market in record time.”
Looking ahead, Workhorse is exploring ways to expand its use of Siemens’ software, including the implementation of a configurator module to handle more complex product variations and a supply chain module to improve supplier collaboration.
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