DATE: June 03, 2008

CONTACT: Imtiaz Haque, (864) 656-2482
sih@clemson.edu

WRITER: Susan Polowczuk, (864) 656-2063
spolowc@clemson.edu

CU-ICAR announces partnership with international consortium

CLEMSON, S.C. — The Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR) Tuesday announced Ozen Engineering Inc. of Sunnyvale, Calif., and its associates, CADFEM GMbH of Munich, Germany, and EnginSoft, SpA, of Trento, Italy, have selected the CU-ICAR campus as headquarters for its U.S. presence. The group will center its North America operations at CU-ICAR and will provide consulting services and specialized software for advanced computer modeling to the automotive industry and others.

“CU-ICAR provides the environment where academic training, applied research and real products meet. This is the best incubator for business and business ideas as well. We are delighted to be part of this community,” said Ozen Engineering President and CEO Metin Ozen.

Ozen Engineering, along with CADFEM and EnginSoft, will provide consulting services for advanced mechanical engineering problems. The group also will provide and support a variety of specialized software packages for the automotive industry, including Virtual Paint Shop for paint simulation; LS-Dyna for crash simulation; ModeFrontier for multi-disciplinary multi-objective optimization; and also OptiSlang, Diffpack and Anybody.

Current clients include BMW, Ferrari, Daimler, Toyota, Bridgestone, Pirelli, Volkswagen, Siemens, Mazda, Toshiba, Bosch, TRW, Honda, Ford, Denso, Nissan, Airbus and others.

“The importance of simulation in product design and development cannot be underrated. Simulation is a key enabling technology in the auto industry in developing processes that get vehicles to market more efficiently with greater cost-savings,” said mechanical engineering chairman and professor Imtiaz Haque. “The fact that our students will be exposed to the very software that the major automotive companies are using is very powerful.”

Ozen, CADFEM and EnginSoft are expert consultants in nonlinear analysis for mechanical engineering, specifically in Finite Element Analysis (FEA) and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) — techniques that are fundamental in automotive and aerospace engineering. CADFEM and EnginSoft are the leading analysis companies in Germany and Italy, respectively. They have partnered with Ozen Engineering in order to extend their operations into North America. The three companies have more than 200 employees and have engaged in engineering consulting for more than 25 years. The expectation is for the office at CU-ICAR to grow to 30 to 40 engineers over the next few years. 

The South Carolina Department of Commerce and the state of South Carolina have partnered with Clemson to recruit investment and build CU-ICAR to be an economic development agent utilizing Clemson’s strengths in automotive engineering to grow the state’s automotive industry and related fields. 

“Ozen Engineering, along with CADFEM and EnginSoft, provide top-tier computer modeling consulting for automotive and other advanced industries. The decision of this consortium to locate in South Carolina demonstrates the strength of our workforce and growth within the knowledge-based economy in our state. As CU-ICAR continues to grow, it presents new opportunities to increase our state’s competitive advantage,” said Joe Taylor, South Carolina secretary of commerce. 

About CU-ICAR 

CU-ICAR is an advanced-technology research campus where university, industry and government organizations engage in synergistic collaboration. With more than $200 million in commitments, it represents the ultimate public-private partnership, directly fueling a knowledge base critical to the automotive industry. 

Strategically located on the Interstate 85 corridor between Charlotte, N.C., and Atlanta, Ga., CU-ICAR is situated in the center of the rapidly growing Southeastern automotive and motorsports economy.


The 250-acre “technopolis” is where BMW, Michelin, Timken, Sun Microsystems, SAE and other corporate partners are joining with Clemson to focus on automotive research and other transportation and advanced-manufacturing issues. 

The state of South Carolina also is a key partner, having created legislation to support economic development and innovation. For example, the Research Centers of Economic Excellence Endowed Chairs Program matches private funding to recruit top faculty. CU-ICAR has four endowed chairs created through the program. These faculty members, along with other faculty members from the main campus, form the academic team for one of the nation’s most exceptional master’s and doctoral degree programs in automotive engineering.