TOKYO — The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd. recently established the Yokohama Design Center (YDC) in Tokyo, Japan.
Equipped with advanced information technologies, workshop functions and audiovisual equipment, the YDC will be used to focus on the improvement of passenger-tire appearance and the reduction of product development lead-time at the company.
By establishing the YDC, Yokohama Rubber aims to create an enhanced environment for three-dimensional tire design. In particular, its solid-model molding system makes it possible to shorten the time necessary for conventional clay modeling (three-dimensional model creation) and review lifelike models from various aspects, thus enabling the company to improve tire appearance, increase commercial competitiveness and reduce product development lead-time.
In addition, the YDC is furnished with a plasma display panel that can show three-dimensional data, an audiovisual presentation system utilizing animation and audio and a tire exchange system that can mount a pilot design model to actual cars, in order to achieve dynamic product design. Also, Yokohama Rubber will use the glass-walled office of the YDC as a showroom to exhibit new designs. The company plans to actively utilize the YDC as its studio for the presentation of new designs to carmakers in Japan and overseas.
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