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Home › Mechanical Engineering Services › Automotive Engineering Services
For vehicle OEMs and Tier suppliers: components, plus assembly and test gear
Take cost and risk out before tooling. Free assessment and roadmap.
The challenge
A part that costs a dollar too much costs a million dollars on a million vehicles.
Review: Cost target
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What changes
Our automotive engineering services cut part count and assembly steps before tooling locks the cost in.
How: DFMA Services →
The challenge
Road loads and vibration crack mounts, loosen joints, and create noise drivers notice.
Review: Durability
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What changes
Vibration and fatigue analysis find weak mounts and joints before durability testing starts.
How: Vibration Analysis →
The challenge
Large deformation and contact are hard to predict with simple, linear analysis tools.
Review: Safety
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What changes
Nonlinear FEA models contact, plasticity, and large deflection in the parts that need it.
How: Nonlinear FEA →
The challenge
Late design changes push tooling, PPAP, and launch. Every week of delay costs you money.
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What changes
Simulation and prototypes are planned so problems surface while changes are still cheap.
Vehicle OEMs, Tier suppliers, and EV startups: we act as your engineering team on components and test gear.
Your extra design team.
Get Your Free RoadmapProduction plants: we define and design the assembly and test equipment, then work with your builder on it.
Your process, our design.
Get Your Free RoadmapPlant and equipment builder in one loop, so durability, flow, and build cost are solved together, not twice.
One loop, both sides.
Get Your Free RoadmapBring your own manufacturer, or work with our partner network. We take the designs we engineer as far as you need. We don't manufacture, so we never compete with the OEMs we partner with.
Facts about how we work, not project results. One team engineers your product from analysis to delivery, and calculations carry a PE stamp where required.
01
A part or test-equipment design with durability and cost data behind it, ready for your tooling release.
02
Simulation and DFMA results you review and approve at each gate, before tooling is released.
03
You own the IP by default. When an OEM or partner manufacturer is involved, the contract spells out who owns what.
04
If we missed it in our QC, we fix it. If your supplier can't make the part within three years, or supply dries up, we fix that too.
You send
What we need to start
CAD and drawings for the part or system
Loads: road, durability, and NVH targets
Volumes and the process you plan to use
Current cost and supplier quotes
Targets: weight, cost, or launch date
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You get
What you hold at the end
Design: CAD and drawings ready for tooling
Simulation results you reviewed and approved
DFMA changes with the cost of each shown
A prototype and test plan
Support through PPAP and changes
We price to the value we deliver, not the hours we log. If the value isn't there for you, we'll say so in the assessment.
Cut part count and assembly steps in brackets, housings, and modules before tooling locks the cost in.
Fewer parts, lower cost.
Used For
Part Count
Assembly
Tooling
Find modes, fatigue, and NVH drivers in mounts, brackets, and EV battery systems before durability tests.
Pass durability first.
Used For
Modal
Fatigue
NVH
Model contact, plasticity, and large deflection in crash, clip, and seal designs where linear tools fail.
Predict real behavior.
Used For
Contact
Plasticity
Seals
Plan prototypes in the processes meant for production, so durability test results carry over to launch.
Results that carry over.
Used For
Prototypes
Fixtures
Testing
Public benchmark
NHTSA study: CAE optimization made a 5-star midsize sedan 22% lighter in crash simulation (2012).
What it means for you
The study reached that weight with CAE optimization and crash simulation, before any car was built. We use the same automotive simulation methods on your parts. Then we confirm the design with the tests your program requires.
The public record shows what the method can do. What it does for your equipment depends on your constraints, and the free assessment tells you.
OEM, plant, or both: we set the model, the builder, and the hand-off.
Scope, targets, tooling dates, and approval gates.
Simulation and DFMA on the design, checked in our QC.
Drawings, results, and a prototype and test plan.
PPAP support, changes, and the next program.
You approve the design at every gate, so nothing that affects function surprises you. If we missed something in our QC, we fix it. If a supplier can’t make a part within three years, we fix that too.
Tooling date coming up? Send the CAD and targets. Free roadmap.
Flight hardware that must be light, documented, and proven before the program review and first flight.
Margin you can prove.
Applications
Brackets
Housings
Structures
Frames, buckets, and wear parts that fail far from any shop, redesigned for impact, dust, and abrasion.
Stop costly downtime.
Applications
Frames
Wear Parts
Crushers
Aerospace to data centers: see how one engineering team solves hard constraints across ten industries.
Find the one like yours.
Industries
Aerospace
Mining
Data Centers
Fixed scope for one project. A lower-risk place to start when you want to see our work on your data.
Start with one project.
Fits When
One Project
Fixed Scope
From $35K
Scheduled monthly engineering for recurring needs: drawing updates, ASME calcs, or FEA for each sale.
Work on a set schedule.
Fits When
Monthly
Recurring
From $15K/mo
A dedicated PPS team working your program daily, built for long, multi-year development and testing.
Your program, every day.
Fits When
Daily Work
Multi-Year
From $800K/yr
Gold · One project: a part or module that must hit its cost or durability target.
Platinum · Ongoing work: simulation and DFMA support across a vehicle program.
Diamond · A long program: a dedicated team from concept through launch.
FEA, CFD, CAD, DFMA, and testing under one roof. Engineering is a team sport, and you get the whole team.
One team, every skill.
Under One Roof
FEA
CFD
CAD
DFMA
Testing
Veteran-owned SDVOSB status gives defense and federal buyers a set-aside path to proven engineering.
Verify our SDVOSB status.
Credentials
SDVOSB
VOSB
CAGE 8ZK73
NAICS 541330
Missed something in our QC? We fix it. Supplier can't make the part within three years? We fix that too.
Support for the long run.
We Fix
Our QC Misses
Supplier Gaps
Supply Chain
We price to the value we deliver, not hours logged. You buy a design that works, not more iterations.
Pay for the result only.
Collections
Gold
Platinum
Diamond
What automotive simulation do you run?
Our automotive engineering services cover the automotive simulation a vehicle part needs before tooling. That means brackets, housings, frames, battery systems, and the equipment that tests them. Most programs feel the limits as extra weight, durability failures, or noise that drivers notice. Each one starts in the design. Weight drives energy use on every vehicle you ship. The U.S. Department of Energy notes that lighter vehicle materials can raise fuel economy. Yet a part made lighter by guesswork alone can crack in durability testing. A failure found that late pushes tooling, PPAP, and launch, and each week of delay costs real money.
Structural FEA sizes brackets, housings, and frames. Vibration analysis finds modes, fatigue, and NVH drivers in mounts and EV battery systems. Nonlinear FEA handles contact, plasticity, and large deflection in clips, seals, and crash-loaded parts. CFD covers cooling and airflow where heat or flow limits the design. Each model is built for the one decision it supports. You approve the data at each gate and own the models at delivery.
Can you help us hit a cost target before tooling?
Most of a part's cost is locked in before tooling is cut. Our automotive engineering services take cost out while it is still cheap to change. Part count, material, process, and tolerances decide the cost. Changing them after the tool exists is slow and expensive, and often hard to undo. NASA research on error cost escalation found that a mistake costs far more to fix the later in a project it is found. On a vehicle program, a late change can mean new tooling, new parts, and a new round of PPAP. The savings you planned then shrink, and the launch date moves out by weeks.
DFMA questions every part and every assembly step. Simulation shows where material can come out without losing strength or durability. Each change comes with its cost and its effect on performance, so you choose with the numbers in front of you. We rank changes by savings and risk, and work to your suppliers' processes. You approve each change before it goes into the release, and you own the design.
Can PPS work with our OEM or manufacturer?
Yes. Automotive engineering services from PPS fit the partnerships that are normal in vehicle and EV programs. We work in one of three models. As your OEM partner, we act as your engineering team. Operator-led, we design the equipment and work with the builder you choose.
When design, build, and test sit with different companies, problems pass back and forth. The builder works from an old drawing, and each party defends its own scope. The Department of Defense's IPPD Handbook organizes programs around integrated product teams for this reason. In a joint program, the plant and the equipment builder work with us in one loop.
We engineer the design and coordinate the builder in one loop. Bring your own manufacturer, or work with our network of fabricators, machine shops, and test labs. You decide how far we take the design, up to the start of production. We never run production, so we never compete with your OEM. NDAs cover every party, and you own the IP by default, set in your contract.
What do you need from us to start?
To start a project with our automotive engineering services, send what you have, in any format. That usually means CAD and drawings, the road, durability, and NVH loads, and the volumes and process you plan to use. Add current costs, supplier quotes, any test results, and your targets for weight, cost, or launch date. Photos help too. Missing data is the most common reason engineering projects stall, because a model built on guessed inputs gives a guessed answer. That is why we don't start the work until every data set is in.
Once it is, the first step is a free assessment of your project scope. We confirm what the work can and can't answer, and tell you what is still missing. Then we send a roadmap proposal with scope, targets, and approval gates. Every project is scoped on its own, so the roadmap sets the schedule, not a stock promise. NDAs are available before you share any files. For gaps in material data, NIST material measurement data is a good first stop.
Who owns the design and the models?
You own the design, the drawings, and the models from your automotive engineering services project by default, as set in the contract. When an OEM or partner manufacturer is involved, the contract spells out who owns what. Some firms keep the models, or license them back to you, so every later change sends you back to them. That locks your product to one vendor and makes design reviews harder, because your team can't open the evidence behind the decisions. You receive the native CAD, the drawings, the simulation model files, and the documented results. Your engineers can then check the work, rerun a load case, or hand the package to a supplier or customer.
We sign mutual NDAs before any of your data is shared, and your files stay in our controlled project folders while we work. If your program has export-control or customer data rules, tell us at the start and we will set up the data handling to match them. For defense programs, the State Department ITAR guidance sets the rules we follow.
What happens if a prototype fails in test?
If a prototype fails in test, we find out why and fix the design. Hard engineering carries unknowns on any project: real loads, material lots, and assembly effects never match a model perfectly. With automotive engineering services from PPS, you approve the data at each gate. A test result is then checked against predictions you have already seen, not a black box. A failure in test is data. It shows which assumption was wrong: a load, a material property, or a boundary condition. That data improves the model and the design.
When testing is in scope, we plan the test to confirm the margins that matter most. Then we correlate the model to the results, following ASME verification and validation practice. If the miss was ours, because something slipped through our QC review, we fix it. If the test uncovers a condition nobody knew about, we scope the change with you and update the roadmap. Either way, you get a clear answer and a path to a design that holds.
How are automotive engineering services priced?
We price automotive engineering services to the value they deliver, not the hours we log. Hourly billing rewards extra iterations, so the cheapest quote often becomes the most expensive project once tooling, rework, and field failures show up. Our incentive is to get the design right the first time. We engage by fit, not as a ladder. Gold (from $35K): you have one project and need help with it. Platinum (from $15K/mo): you have recurring work at a steady rhythm. Diamond (from $800K/yr): you have a long development program, often multi-year.
Gold is never required, and some clients start at Platinum or Diamond. These are starting points, not quotes; your roadmap sets the price. We price to the value we deliver, not the hours we log. If the value isn't there for you, we'll say so in the assessment. Our engineering consultant pricing page explains how each collection works in more detail.
Cost or durability off target? Send the CAD and loads now.
Comparing automotive engineering consulting firms? Send your CAD, loads, and cost targets. We review your project scope in a free assessment and reply within one business day with next steps.
On-site assessments that require travel are quoted separately.