Designers with a strong feeling for technical feasibility. Engineers and developers who are not only highly qualified scientists, but also have creative minds. And model makers who so often come up with new design ideas: Integrated work – that’s what makes the difference at KET. Very simple, as development is nowadays no longer a linear process, but calls on everyone to see the big picture. Only this way can we arrive at our common goal: achieving the best possible solution for you in the dynamic market of automotive development.
See for yourself our years of expertise in cooperating with leading manufacturers and components suppliers. Just take a look at our reference list and under the heading Innovation!
Christoph Thurner, Managing Director“The more specialized the knowledge, the more important an integrated development approach becomes.”
When you come to us early on with an initial idea, first thoughts already start going through our minds: How can the component be best realized? What is the impact on the overall structure of the installation space? How can the requirements in terms of ride comfort, ease of operation and design be brought into line with the technical requirements? You can rely on us complying with all statutory, ergonomic, market- and marque-specific stipulations.
In the pre-development and packaging stages your ideas will gel into an initial vehicle architecture. The creation of a DMU allows us to identify design-critical aspects at a very early phase – we always keep an eye on optimizing development times for you and the security of your investment. It is above all at this early stage that you will see just how valuable long-term development partnerships are here. The closer we cooperate, the faster and more precisely we will arrive at the perfect design concept – so saving you precious time and reliably getting you to your project goal.
Hardly anything impacts on the marque experience in the automotive sector as much as design. The customer’s emotional tie to your marque is strongly influenced by its styling, lines, feel and spatial experience. This is why we set great stock by our designers not only having an eye for aesthetics, but also being marque experts with an excellent understanding of visual identity. Even if you come to us with just an initial sketch for a design: You can rely on us immediately having a feeling of how you want the final product to look!
Our virtual design staff make use of cutting-edge programs, from ICEM Surf to Alias. This is rounded off by three-dimensional clay models of interiors and exteriors, which allow you to make an initial realistic assessment of shapes and proportions, as well as design, proportion and ergonomic models.
You’d like to see what visions our designers thought up together with their colleagues? Then take a look under the heading Innovation and discover the dynamic Chinaro!
Roman Heutger, Head of Design at KET Munich“Every designer working for us has to be a good psychologist – to understand exactly what emotion is linked with a marque.”
Our years of experience tell us: You can never start looking at the serial production capability of a product early enough. What’s the use of the finest design surface if manufacture just isn’t technically feasible? This is why permanent expansion of our Strak surface modeling departments at many sites is a key issue. Our experienced surface modelers ensure that the shapes created in the design are validated early on in terms of their feasibility to guarantee an efficient, cost-optimized development process. This is how the scanned clay models result in first-rate surfaces (Class A) that optimize for example the highlights set on the vehicle. And the requirements from the design also come into play here: We carefully examine demoldability and positioning of the mold parting lines, always bearing in mind how parts will fit into the available installation space.
At KET there’s a lot more to what is understood by “body development”. We are equally at home in a vehicle interior as in its exterior – and devote the highest level of care to all projects whatever their size. Whether this involves “just” a cupholder or designing a complete instrument panel. Besides the doors/tailgate, one particular focus of the vehicle exterior is the key aspect of lamps, which is increasingly becoming a design feature that differentiates the marque. We are also passionate about tackling unusual challenges such as those in the motorcycle and motor sports sector, which call for a hands-on, practical approach. Or with special vehicles, which have to reliably satisfy stringent safety requirements.
Our spectrum ranges from the development and design of components and modules to the entire vehicle.
This includes model validation in terms of production-oriented and functional requirements with regard for all relevant key data, e.g. functional fulfillment, installation space, ergonomics, production method, costs, statutory provisions and marque-specific stipulations. Our engineers of course have access to the latest versions of CATIA, the leading design software, for components development.
But to you development nowadays naturally means far more than just exceptional engineering. For you, being able to hand over complete development processes to a responsible partner is becoming increasingly important, with full quality assurance guaranteed at every stage. And this is precisely what is on offer from KET Project Management, with this meanwhile being inextricably linked with our work – find out more under Project Management!
Jürgen Platzer, Head of Interiors at KET Munich“Development also means developing in tandem with more complex requirements of the customer.”
Development times are constantly shrinking, vehicles and derivatives are becoming increasingly numerous, and costs and competitive pressure are growing all the time. But luckily you as a manufacturer do not have to deal with such tasks on your own – on the contrary: With KET you can conveniently outsource entire development processes and at last concentrate on your core business again.
KET’s project teams are capable of mapping complete inhouse structures from your firm. KET project managers can mastermind organization and communications here, ensuring that you achieve your project goal quickly and reliably and in terms of costs and quality. KET project managers will direct the entire development team, taking charge of interface management and displaying perfect familiarity with your internal processes. They know the performance specifications inside out, have an overview of every approval and coordinate all program schedules. All partners are developed simultaneously, from design to purchasing and suppliers – so saving you precious time (Simultaneous Engineering).
What makes KET Project Management different is the full flexibility offered by the configuration of the team: Entrust us with entire development processes or subprocesses which call for close cooperation with other project partners. We will adapt to every constellation, focusing here on a single goal: your success.
When the first model is ready, this is an aha experience in every development process: Not just because it is so important for the validation of concept and function, and thus for cost efficiency. In psychological terms it is also an important moment for your internal decision-making process: The requirements on look and feel are very high, likewise on functionality and ergonomics that will convince. Our model makers have a strong feeling for all these aspects and approach their work with maximum attention to detail so as to produce impressive functional prototypes from the digital specifications. Here they can call on a perfectly equipped range of machinery that permits the precision manufacturing of parts, modules and tools. At their disposal are diverse milling techniques, an SLS machine, casting systems and measuring techniques.
Our range includes prototypes and small batch series of interior parts (e.g. steering wheels, user interfaces, center consoles) as well as exterior parts (tailgates, add-on parts, etc.). We additionally perform climate tests, functional checks, lamination tests, etc. to find the most convincing solution for you. Our love of detail and careful workmanship ensure that we are also a preferred partner for the manufacture of individual parts and modules and also one-off pieces.
Peter Ranftl, Department Head of Modeling at KET Munich“The earlier models are involved, the better – including for the cost certainty of our customers.”
Development processes are nowadays so complex that numerous service-providers are generally involved. For you it is important that every one of them delivers outstanding performance in their sector, with each service meshing together perfectly. Only then can your requirements on quality, cost certainty and timing be reliably fulfilled. KET has years of experience in cooperating with different partners (developers, components suppliers and OEMs) and thus fits into the individual structures without difficulty.
So offering you a network of excellence made up of first-rate partners. Such experienced cooperation in differing constellations provides you with many benefits: We know where the key interfaces are and automatically think of incorporating them. For example, when we are responsible for design and another partner is in charge of calculation, simulation and testing, we immediately include the resulting findings in our development work.
We are very passionate about putting new vehicles or variants on the road together with our Customers. This is why KET Projektservice GmbH will accompany you with trials and testing in the pre-development phase. We have our own boasting workshop space with 4.000m². Due to the enclosed outdoor parking area of 2.200m², we are also able to take care of the safe fleet management for our Customers.
Our highly specialized workshop teams perform technical analysis at lightning speed and carry out modifications and upgrading of your vehicle models, as well as repairing them. We are also happy to create detailed technical documentation, maintain controller software and perform tasks involving high-voltage vehicles and their components. Our body and paintwork experts offer a full range of repair services for your prototypes, so rounding off the workshop portfolio offered by KET Projektservice GmbH.