Stottler Henke Presents Aurora-VT™ at Automotive Testing Expo Europe 2015

Intelligent scheduling software selects the best test vehicle configurations to minimize vehicle count and shorten schedules

Messe Stuttgart, Germany, June 17, 2015 – Stottler Henke Associates, Inc. (www.stottlerhenke.com) announced today that they will be presenting the Aurora-VT™ intelligent scheduling software system for vehicle testing at Automotive Testing Expo Europe 2015. Based on Stottler Henke’s Aurora artificial intelligence-based scheduling platform, Aurora-VT optimizes the vehicle testing process to shorten schedules and reduce vehicle costs.

To optimize a major automobile manufacturer’s vehicles for both nondestructive and crash testing, Stottler Henke enhanced its intelligent planning and scheduling system, Aurora, with domain-specific heuristics used in the vehicle task planning process, decreasing by about 10% the number of vehicles needed to complete the same test/crash suite within the same time constraints. Aurora-VT also enables users to ask ‘what-if’ questions to further improve the schedule: for example, how much faster the test suite could be completed with only 5% fewer cars, or how many cars would be needed to complete the suite 15% more quickly. Some new vehicle models may require over 100 test crash vehicles. For just one new vehicle model, Aurora-VT has saved over 10 vehicles, which translates into millions of dollars in cost reductions.

Aurora-VT is fueled by Stottler Henke’s Aurora™ artificial intelligence engine (www.stottlerhenke.com/products/aurora). Aurora software is the first intelligent planning and scheduling system that enables companies to easily encode and apply sophisticated decision-making rules. The Aurora scheduling system generates schedules more effectively than traditional systems by applying domain-specific knowledge and heuristics, constraints, and resource requirements. Using Aurora’s graphical user interface, scheduling experts can easily configure Aurora with this planning and scheduling knowledge, as well as visualize and modify the automatically-generated schedules.

Aurora is used by organizations that have the most demanding scheduling requirements. For example, The Boeing Company uses Aurora to manage certain aspects of the process of building the Boeing 787 Dreamliner™ commercial airliner. Aurora-ProPlan™ is a component of the Intelligence Based Manufacturing (IbM) initiative at Pfizer. Aurora-CCPM combines Aurora with the added power and flexibility of multi-project Critical Chain Project Management. Other Aurora users include Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Korea Aerospace Industries, Massachusetts General Hospital, Bombardier Learjet, the US Department of Defense, and NASA.

Aurora was originally developed to help NASA tackle difficult, mission-critical scheduling problems that previously required the judgment and experience of expert human schedulers. For example, Aurora was deployed at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center to schedule the use of floor space and other resources at the Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF), the world’s largest low-particle clean room where International Space Station components are prepared for space flight. Aurora was also used to create Aurora/AMP, a replacement for the Automated Manifest Planner developed by Stottler Henke and used by NASA since 1993. AMP generated short-term and long-term (10 year) schedules of ground-based activities to prepare space shuttles before each mission and refurbish them after each mission.

Founded in 1988, Stottler Henke Associates, Inc. creates and applies artificial intelligence and other advanced software technologies to solve problems that defy solution using traditional approaches. Stottler Henke delivers innovative software solutions for education and training, planning and scheduling, knowledge management and discovery, decision support, and autonomous systems. In a White House ceremony, Stottler Henke was awarded the prestigious Tibbetts award, which honors small businesses for outstanding technical achievements and innovation. US Government agencies have designated ten Stottler Henke systems as Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) success stories. Four Stottler Henke systems have been included in Spinoff, NASA’s showcase of successful spinoff technologies. Stottler Henke was the subject of a NASA Hallmarks of Success video profile for its work developing and later commercializing advanced scheduling and training software systems. Stottler Henke received a “Brandon Hall Excellence in Learning” award for innovative technology. Stottler Henke was named one of the “Top 100” companies making a significant impact on the military training industry by Military Training Technology magazine for 2014 and ten previous years, Stottler Henke received a Blue Ribbon from Military Training Technology magazine, recognizing it as a company that leads the industry in innovation. Stottler Henke is headquartered in San Mateo, CA and operates software development offices in Seattle, WA and Boston, MA. Email: . Web: https://www.stottlerhenke.com.