Case Study: AAM (Automotive Components) achieves 20% carrier weight reduction with Altair’s solidThinking Inspire

AAM - Customer Case Study

AAM, a Tier-One global automotive supplier of driveline and drivetrain systems, faced the challenge of redesigning an automotive carrier to reduce weight and material use while meeting strength and deflection targets. To tackle this, AAM used solidThinking Inspire from Altair to explore lightweight concept generation and optimize the carrier design under real loading and manufacturing constraints.

Using Altair’s solidThinking Inspire, AAM applied multiple loading conditions to generate an ideal shape and developed an optimized ribbing layout with added vertical ribs for improved internal support. The redesigned carrier achieved a 20% mass reduction—dropping from 47.97 kg to 38.34 kg (baseline ~48 kg to ~38.3 kg)—and delivered improved gear deflection performance, validating the effectiveness of Altair’s solution.

AAM

Jerry Chung

Senior Manager, Analytical Engineering