Computer Aided Design

Name: Adam Frost
Title: Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) manager - product development 
Company: Ford Motor Company Australia

Adam Frost started with boyhood dreams of aeroplanes and perhaps being a pilot. "I went to a career advisor at my high school in Year 11. He asked if I'd looked at engineering and specifically aerospace engineering. It looked really cool so I did a degree in aerospace engineering at RMIT."

"I was always interested in computers so after I finished my degree I did a second degree in computer science at RMIT." Responding to a letter he'd sent, Ford interviewed Adam and offered him a job but insisted that he complete the second degree.

Adam progressed through a number of roles involving Computer Aided Design (CAD), Engineering (CAE) and Manufacturing (CAM), before Ford sent him on an overseas secondment. "I was transferred to Ford in Cologne, Germany, for about 15 months to work in their CAE department, also speeding time in the U.K. and Detroit, USA. It was a fantastic experience!" 

In February 2001 Adam moved to his current role as CAE manager - product development. "CAE is a very important department and if I explain what CAE is it should give an idea of what we do. Traditionally car companies would draw a new model, build prototypes, then drive and test them. Now that process is computerised so we create 3D analytical prototypes of the vehicle on our CAE system and, instead of testing a real car on the road, we drive the car around on a supercomputer." 

"Ford has 14 supercomputers and is a leader in creating most of its prototypes electronically. The main reason is we can work much quicker - we can do 100 crash tests in a week versus about five tests a year with the old method."

"The projects we work on are very complex and it can be challenging dealing with my team of 38 engineers who are interfacing with an overall team of 400 engineers. Engineers working on individual pieces of the car can't necessarily see how it affects other parts, so it needs someone to oversee it."

"One of the most rewarding things is after you've worked on a new product for four years, you see that model on the road and the people driving it have no idea you were involved. It's also a product you can enjoy yourself, just by going for a drive."

"Any engineering course can get you into a similar product development role in a company like Ford. The key thing about my job is that it shows people who are interested in Information Technology (IT) as well as cars that they can combine both. Many people don't realise you can do that in the automotive industry."


Click here to visit Aerospace Engineering at RMIT, click here to go to Computer Science and Information Technology also at RMIT, or click here to go to Ford Australia's web site.