| Tue 12 Oct 2010, 8:47 | | CNL - Control Instruments Group Limited - Pi Shurlok and Ricardo Strategic |
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CNL
CNL
CNL - Control Instruments Group Limited - Pi Shurlok and Ricardo Strategic
Collaboration
Control Instruments Group Limited
(Incorporated in the Republic of South Africa)
(Registration number 1964/003987/06)
Share code: CNL
ISIN code: ZAE000001665
("Control Instruments" or "the Group")
Pi SHURLOK AND RICARDO STRATEGIC COLLABORATION
Open architecture ECU technology collaboration promises faster market entry for
new powertrain innovations.
Ricardo and Pi Shurlok have announced a collaboration that will enable their
customers to benefit from the ability to develop new products based on world-
class control technology that can move quickly and seamlessly from concept to
production, enhancing the potential and reducing time to market for new
powertrain and hybrid vehicle innovations.
Under the terms of the collaboration, Ricardo and Pi Shurlok have agreed to work
closely together to provide customers in the automotive, commercial vehicle, off
highway equipment and defence vehicle sectors with a completely new service. The
two companies will offer the option of a comprehensive and fully integrated
solution ranging from the development of powertrain products incorporating new
ECUs by Ricardo, through to high quality, volume electronics manufacture and
supply from Pi Shurlok. This joint service will be based upon a choice of
Ricardo`s open architecture "Morfeus" controller and Pi Shurlok`s OpenECU
technology, for which a wide range of production-ready ECUs is available for new
vehicle innovation programmes.
For almost all new conventional and hybrid powertrain technology development
programmes, enhancements are necessary to the product`s control software and the
electronics of the ECU hardware on which it operates. In particular where
enhancements are sought to performance, fuel economy, emissions and supervisory
control, such changes frequently entail the use of a prototype level controller
for the purposes of initial development. Once product targets are achieved, the
same functionality has to be subsequently re-engineered on a production-ready
ECU platform. Using either Ricardo`s Morfeus or one of Pi Shurlok`s OpenECU
products however, Ricardo is able to develop the prototype system on a
production-ready platform, which is immediately available for series
manufacture.
Pi Shurlok has a broad-ranging automotive customer base comprising many of the
world`s leading automotive, transportation and related sector companies
including BMW, Detroit Diesel, Ford, Mercedes Benz, Renault, Toyota and VW, and
their respective tier one suppliers and has a business model and development
capability that is extremely complementary with that of Ricardo.
The collaboration remains non-exclusive and both Ricardo and Pi Shurlok will
continue to offer their products and services independently of each other. By
combining their respective services and products in this way however, the two
companies believe that their joint customers will be able to derive significant
benefits in both time-to-market and product functionality and quality.
Commenting on the collaboration with Ricardo, Pi Shurlok`s chief operating
officer for international operations Dr Nigel Preston said: "Our innovative
OpenECUTrade Mark hardware and tools are proving to be a popular and effective
automotive electronics solution, for both prototyping and production. We are
delighted to be working with the leading industry service provider, Ricardo, to
integrate our technology within their large-scale, new product, development
programmes."
Ricardo plc executive director Mark Garrett added: "The collaboration between
Ricardo and Pi Shurlok provides a completely new business model for our
customers in the automotive, commercial and off-highway vehicle and related
market sectors. This will enable Ricardo to develop next-generation world-class
conventional and hybrid powertrain products for customers using a range of
production-ready development platforms. In this way Ricardo customers intending
to use Pi Shurlok for production ECU fulfilment will be able to take advanced
product development from concept to market in a much shorter timescale without
compromising functionality or quality."
Control Instruments operates in the automotive sector through two businesses, Pi
Shurlok and CI Automotive. Pi Shurlok designs, develops and manufactures
electronics for the OEM automotive industry and has facilities in Cambridge
(UK), Detroit (USA) and Pietermaritzburg (SA). CI Automotive distributes quality
branded products to the automotive aftermarket in sub-Saharan Africa and is
based in Johannesburg and Cape Town.
Cape Town
12 October 2010
Sponsor:
Investec Bank Limited
Date: 12/10/2010 08:47:01 Produced by the JSE SENS Department.
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