“NATS (Nihon Automotive College) grabs the award with a high quality work covering all aspects of the development process:  from the idea through product design, engineering, choice of materials and the requirements for mass production”

Milan, July 19^th 2010- think3 Inc a leading CAD and PLM solution provider with headquarters in BO, Italy announced the most awaited results of its competition PDP Award Andrea Pininfarina in collaboration with Pininfarina Spa and Politecnico di Milano. The competition was run worldwide among product and transportation design students and faculty members from respective institutes and universities. The competition was announced in November 2009 and the response was amazing with participation from various high profile institutes with great enthusiasm from students and faculty members. Think3 finalized on key three projects: “An environment-friendly sports car” by NATS (Nihon Automobile College), The Ecohc-sh3- EV and The MAG Project.

The projects have been further evaluated and ranked by our honorable judges for the competition. We had on the jury board Mr. Paolo Pininfarina, President Pininfarina Spa, Umberto Cugini, Professor, Politecnico di Milano, Nevio Di Giusto, CEO, Research Center FIAT, Chris Bangle, Professional Designer, Renzo Trivero, Automotive Consultant and Contractor, Alain Massabo, VP Advanced R&D think3, Stefano Cinti Luciani, VP Program Management, think3, Davide Ciarloni, Program Manager Senior, think3 and Silvano Joly, VP Worldwide Marketing, think3.

The winner of the competition is NATS, a unique college specialized to study mechanical engineering of automobile and motorcycle in Japan. The design project was completed on ThinkDesign the robust 3D software from think3. The key team members involved in the project are Ryuto Watanabe, Keita Yashiro, Yoshiyuki Tanigawa, Daisuke Kitagawa, Junya Kimura, with Mr. Watanabe being the Leader for the NATS project. The students completed the project with great enthusiasm and creativity while learning the software in a short span of time. The concept of this project is "An environment-friendly sports car." It’s an Electric Vehicle with good amount of styling work done on the car. Inside a box-shaped frame battery would be set. For a first model, lead battery is adopted this makes the size of box-shaped frame bigger than when lithium-ion battery is installed, in future size of frame could be minimized. In consideration of actual manufacture nature, steel will be used to make the frame. In order to optimize design, FEA will be used. The box-shaped frame would provide rigidity for security of passengers. Overall NATS has worked on the complete PDP process while designing the car and covers the criteria for mass production and have been announced the winner of the PDP Award Pininfarina competition.

The 2^nd ranking goes to The Ecohc-sh3-EV Project by a multifunctional group of students from Mexican ITESM (Instituto Tecnologico Y De Estudios Superiores De Monterrey) Campus Léon, the project is completed with the contribution from key team members Salvador Reynoso Ortiz, Adriana Ojeda Villegas, Jasiel Esau Lòpez Munoz, Manuela Paulina Trejo Ramirez, Ricardo Moncada Palafox and Juan Francisco Hernandez Arrona.  The Ecohc-sh3-EV is designed for senior citizens with physical disabilities which include orthopedic, neuromuscular, cardiovascular and pulmonary disorders that prevent them from performing everyday activities, such as going to the supermarket, or visiting their doctor at the hospital, etc.

The 3^rd ranking goes to The MAG a Green Innovative Project by Samuel Cortes, a student from Universidad Autonoma de Colombia. The MAG CAR has an innovation such as Solar Panels and Magnetic Security Technology. The panels has been designed in a security place and it has high solar absorption, the security is magnetic front shield and spoiler, MAG besides being a hybrid car that runs on gasoline and solar power, would be the first car that develops technology for superconducting magnetic security, MAG remind in the front the London’s double-decker bus (the first) and their lights are LED, which allows production and cost savings. Samuel has a great passion towards design and has been finalist in the International Bicycle Design Competition IBDC in Taiwan for his project TRICI.

The jury had a hard time ranking these projects as all were excellent and on the latest trend of EV (Electric Vehicle). NATS won the competition as the team worked on the complete PDP process, the CAD Model is quite complete showing that the team looked into several aspects of design, the completeness of the study was higher than other projects and yes of course we wish to reward seriousness involved in completion of the NATS project.

“This award that is dedicated to my brother makes both the Family and the Pininfarina Company proud” - comments Paolo Pininfarina - since it brings the figure of Andrea to young students, who will one day be the designers and the entrepreneurs of the future. All the designs presented show both creativity and  innovation, but we're pleased that the winner is that of an electric sports car, Pininfarina is very interested to these types of vehicles, as the recently launched research prototype Nido EV”confirms.

“We are pleased to announce NATS as the winner of the PDP Award Andrea Pininfarina competition and the successful completion of these projects being worked on ThinkDesign” states Mr. Silvano Joly, Executive VP Marketing. He further adds “The competition was launched to celebrate our 30th Anniversary and to honour the great business leader of Turin Late Mr. Andrea Pininfarina. We are thrilled with the response we got from the product and transportation design students and we hope to conduct more such events to educate and generate awareness among the Design community”.

The award consists of a week long training session in Europe. NATS team will visit the sites of industry leaders such as the R&D centers of think3 in Italy and France and have the opportunity to increase product development skills and knowledge. NATS will also be able to visit the Pininfarina Collection at Cambiano (Turin) for a journey through company history from 1930 to the present day, knowing personally Eng. Paolo Pininfarina, Ad Honorem Chairman of Judges.

About NATS:

NATS (Nihon Automotive College) - NATS has its base at Chiba prefecture in Japan. It is a unique college specialized to study mechanical engineering of automobile and motorcycle. Established in 1989, 800 students are studying at the college. More than 5,000 have been graduated from the college and 100% of graduates find a job as a mechanic of automobile maintenance firm and major automobile companies. http://www.nats.ac.jp/pc/home.html 

Information about think3, Inc.

Think3 has been operating in the ICT sector for 30 years and provides the only technology that links three separate design areas: the concept, its development and the finished product. In this way, think3 enables thousands of company customers to innovate, to compete and to rise to the challenges of global markets, thanks to the integration of processes, which helps to accelerate time to market and to reduce costs.

Think3 boasts a consolidated presence across Europe, US and Asia. The company has also a strong presence in China started in 2008 with a joint venture that evolved in 2010 with the establishment of think3 China Ltd, with offices across the country. In the rest of the world, think3 is present throughout its network of selected VARs (Value Added Resellers).

All this means that think3 can count among its customers some of the most significant enterprises in the industrial market.

For more information visit our site at www.think3.com