08 Avenger Automatic Transmission 2.4l 689954 on 2040-parts.com

Mercedes-Benz to cut production time, halve number of vehicle architectures

Mercedes-Benz is restructuring its global production network to cut the average production time for its models to 30 hours by 2015 from 43 in 2008. "We have increased productivity by 2 percent a year over the last few years. We will be accelerating our productivity efforts," Mercedes production boss Wolfgang Bernhard said during an investor conference that was part of the automaker's plant opening in Kecskemet, Hungary, on Thursday.

Ford builds it, you test it

Only a select few usually get the opportunity to test out upcoming vehicles. Ford is bucking that trend by allowing customers to sign up at BuiltToughTest.com, and get the chance to explain how they would put the aluminum reinforced 2015 Ford F-150 to the test. Product development does extensive testing to the extremes, going as far as disguising the F-150 and running it through the 2013 Baja 1000.

Design and Technology at Siggraph 2007

From 5-9 August, over 24000 artists, designers, research scientists, developers, filmmakers, and academics gathered in San Diego, California, for the 34th Siggraph Conference on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques. The Siggraph conference and exhibition ranges from several days of highly technical courses and academic paper presentations, through to hands-on demos of new technologies, an art gallery, computer animation festival, and the two-day exhibition by software and hardware vendors. Siggraph straddles the scientific, engineering and the artistic aspects of computer graphics and interaction, with film-makers showing how they made "Giant Frickin' Robots" for the upcoming Transformers movie, while the Papers presentations and Courses deal with the latest research, software evolution and hardware systems that make it all possible.