This webinar will discuss how using simulation tools within the design process can help engineers create better products faster. Attendees will learn how simulation can reduce costs by decreasing physical prototypes, speed time to market by reducing testing, enable more innovation through virtual experimentation, and allow redesigns to be executed faster. The webinar will promote an easy-to-use simulation tool integrated within Solid Edge that leverages proven simulation technology to validate designs digitally. Space is limited so participants are encouraged to register now.
Hello and welcome to the Product Development webinar series. This series is designed to help you learn how to solve some of today's toughest product design challenges.
I'm your host, Jane Partner. Thank you for joining in today.
Now today, we're going to be talking about Virtual Product Improvement and the benefits of bringing digital simulation forward into the design process.
As part of this series, we’ve looked at a variety of topics related to great product design. Topics like “From Concept to Market” , Successful Product Redesign and Thriving in a multicad environment Check our calendar for future live webinars. If you missed the earlier webinars, on demand recordings can be found on our website.
Please feel free to enter in your questions at any time during the presentation. We'll get to them during the Q&A session at the end of the presentation.
With all that said, let me give you a better idea of what we'll cover today...
Partner- Ideally this should be run as part of a series where single registration covers all webinars. Adjust/remove this slide if you are running as a stand alone webinar.
First, I’ll describe how simulation benefits product development.
Next we’ll look at current trends and business challenges -- and their implications to both you and your organization
After that, were going to look at how a several companies were able to integrate simulation forward into their design processes with great success.
Lets get started.
The rise of simulation has been dramatically enabled by one phenomenon: Moore’s Law, which states that the number of transistors on an integrated circuit doubles approximately every two years.
This has resulted in vast improvements in technical computing capability over nearly five decades Improvements in computer software and algorithms have added further orders of magnitude, and all this comes at a declining cost, at least for computer hardware.
This single trend has enabled simulation to be used earlier in the engineering design and development process. We are truly in the era of simulation-driven engineering, where simulation can be used to synthesize and define the physical design, rather than simply to evaluate and validate completed designs.
The fundamental trend <<click>> for simulation is that it is becoming better, faster, cheaper, and even easier to use.
This enables more simulations to be done, and also enables the effective use of simulation early in the product and manufacturing development processes.
Creating great products requires insight into design performance, and design engineers who can predict design behavior are more innovative, efficient and successful. Companies, particularly SMB manufacturers (small- to medium-sized businesses with revenues between $7 and $700M) are seizing the opportunity to improve their product design and development processes through investments in CAE (computer-aided engineering) or FEA (finite element analysis) applications. <<Click>>
Introducing CAE in this way effectively brings product design and engineering closer together and reduces the number of required physical prototypes, which can drastically shorten cycle times and reduce costs. This allows manufacturers to optimize there products bring their products to market more quickly and better meet their customers’ requirements.
Research form the Aberdeen’s Group Cost Saving Strategies for Engineering: Using Simulation to Make Better Decisions indicates that as the economy heads into recovery, returning to profitability is the top priority for many companies. This is driving them to look for ways to simultaneously reduce costs and deliver the products that customers want. When armed with the right resources, engineers are empowered to make better decisions that enable them to take cost out of products, without sacrificing quality, thus improving profitability for the company.
The report provides an overview of the key components of the simulation strategy that enables companies to make these decisions. Aberdeen focused on three main components: Business Needs for Improving Design, the maturity class framework and best in class performance.
The findings on business needs for improving designs and best in class performance are specifically of interest to our discussion today.
To understand he external factors driving companies to improve their design process, survey respondents were asked to pick the top two pressures driving that improvements. The top pressure clearly demonstrates that reducing product cost is currently the most important factor driving improvements in product design. Much of the final cost of a product is determined by the decisions engineering makes during the design phase.
At number two is the need to get products to market as quickly as possible. This means engineers must find ways to take out costs of the products without adding a lot of additional time to the overall development process
Balancing the aforementioned pressures constitutes a considerable challenge. Aberdeen's research indicates that making these trade-offs is a top product design challenge. At the heart of this challenge lies the difficulty of anticipating how all the facets of design with interact in the final product, which is apparent across this entire graph. Designs change throughout the development process and disparate systems often don’t come together until very late in the process- leaving fewer options for resolution and certainly not the most economical or best for the design.
In order to respond to these challenges, engineers need access to other resources and tools that will provide them with the information they need to make the best decisions for the product. Simulation within the design process provides a means by which to do this.
Best in class strategies- Simulate early, simulate often. Analysis of the best in class performers indicates a strategic emphasis on using simulation to gain better insight into product behavior from the very beginning of the design process as a key differentiator of success.
The best in class are also likely to implement a “get it right the first time” strategy. This refers to use of simulation throughout the design process to correct product performance before any physical prototypes are built.
Suffice to say, If your company isn't integrating simulation and analysis at the early stages of product development- you’re at significant competitive risk
NOTE- Partners- If platform is capable. We recommend a live poll at this point. This will help keep audience attention and also give insight (capture able and useful for lead scoring) as to the prospects specific challenge. Try the poll questions below
I would like to pause for a minute to reflect on the information presented thus far.
The question I have for you is:
What is the most significant challenge impacting the way you design and develop your products?
Design cycles are requiring more iterations which is taking too long
Prototype testing is becoming too expensive
We need to reduce product costs to be competitive
We’re discovering design errors late in the process
All of the above
Let’s quickly look at a story from Indaer. In business since 2002, Indaer Industrial Aeronáutica (Indaer) has grown to have a staff of 100 engineers, technicians and analysts who provide planning and construction solutions for the aerospace industry. The company holds a strong market niche in three operating segments: technical support, repairs and research, and development for the ATR 42, ATR 72 and Beechcraft Super King Air 350 aircraft. Venturing into new territory, the company is implementing the design and mass production of the first Colombian-built airplane, the Mylius MY-103-200 Mistral.
Let us first look at Indaer’s challenges. Like most design manufacturers, Indaer was looking for ways to accelerate design, re-use existing data and/or designs and reduce costs.
It was very clear to them that they were spending a lot of extra time and money on physical prototypes and outsourcing of simulation. Indaer began exploring in-house simulation tool options.
One of the primary reasons to use simulation is to replace physical testing with virtual testing, thereby reduce the number of prototypes required to validate the design.
Failure analysis is an important way to ensure that there are no product failures in the field and to improve reliability. This is especially critical in the world of aerospace.
And simulation can also be used to optimize the design allowing material, for example weight reduction- improving the efficiency of the design.
All three of these examples are powerful examples of how simulation reduces costs and can lead to better products.
Indaer was determined to find a way to bring simulation in house….and find a system that brings analysis forward into the design process for earlier and better decision making.
CAD should include embedded simulation SO that critical decisions can be made during the design process
Indaers solution was a 3D CAD product that had simulation analysis functionality built right into the software. Embedded simulation allowed them to perform their simulation in house for increased analysis. This allowed Indaer to optimize their designs and run trade off studies. It also allowed them to reduce the number of physical prototypes- saving them time and money.
And for Indaer, their simulation embedded 3D CAD solution was Solid Edge Simulation.
Solid Edge® Simulation software is an easy-to-use, built-in finite element analysis tool that enables design engineers to digitally validate part and assembly designs within the Solid Edge environment.
Based on proven Femap™ finite element modeling technology, Solid Edge Simulation significantly reduces the need for physical prototypes, thereby reducing material and testing costs, while saving design time.
This optional built-in Solid Edge application uses the same underlying geometry and user interface as all Solid Edge applications. Solid Edge Simulation is easy enough for any Solid Edge user who has a fundamental understanding of FEA principles, yet robust enough to service most of your analysis needs.
By enabling engineers to perform their own simulation, more analysis gets done in less time – improving quality, reducing material costs and minimizing the need for physical prototypes – without incurring the high costs of outsourced analysis. The layout of the user interface is designed to guide the user through the whole analysis process, with on-hand help if required, which makes it easy to learn initially, and revisit if necessary.
Automatic and Manual Mesh Control
An essential part of the simulation process is the discretization of the geometry model to create a finite element model or mesh. Prior to meshing it is important that the geometry be free of unnecessary detail and any problematic features such as sliver surfaces and discontinuities. Solid Edge Simulation provides an automatic solid geometry preparation capability to ensure a clean solid model and faster FE model creation.
Solid Edge Simulation provides both automatic and manual methods of mesh creation, allowing element refinement for greater detail where needed to create accurate yet efficient finite element models for solution.
Full complement of load and constraint definitions
Solid Edge Simulation provides all of the boundary condition definitions that you’ll need to define realistic operating environments. The constraints are geometry based and include fixed, pinned, no rotation, symmetric and cylindrical variations. The loads are also geometry based and include mechanical as well as temperature loading for thermal analyses.
Powerful Analysis Capability
In Solid Edge Simulation, the underlying solver technology is NX Nastran, Siemens PLM Software’s industry standard solver for finite element analysis. You can perform various types of analysis including statics (for general static loads and constraints), normal modes (to determine the natural or characteristic frequencies of the structure), buckling analysis (to determine loads that will cause the structure to buckle), thermal and heat transfer analysis (to determine how the structure responds to thermal loading and to determine heat dissipation).
Simulation for Sheet Metal
Solid Edge Simulation’s mid-surface extraction capability serves to speed up and simplify the simulation process for sheet metal parts. For thin walled components Solid Edge Simulation finds the wall mid-surfaces and meshes them with 2D shell elements resulting in a finite element model that is more accurate and much smaller and so faster to solve. Finding mid-surfaces of components can be performed at the assembly level, simplifying the validation process, and as the mid-surfaces are ordered features, they are automatically kept up to date. This mid-surfacing capability can also be applied to generic thin-walled parts, such as plastic components.
Postprocessing
You can interpret and understand the resulting model behavior quickly with the comprehensive graphical post processing tools. Model results can be displayed in a number of forms, including color and contour plots, which can be continuous, displayed as distinct contour bands or by element and displacement and mode shapes that can be animated.
Design updates
You can quickly and easily make any required design update during post analysis. Synchronous technology lets you make history-free feature-based model changes at will, which drastically speeds up the model refinement process. In addition, Solid Edge Simulation maintains associativity between the CAD and FE models, while making sure that your applied loads and constraints are maintained for all geometry model changes.
Lets take a look at Solid Edge Simulation in action
Partner –This demo is optional and looks at how Solid Edge Simulation eliminates costly mistakes and reduces the number of physical prototypes.
Lets take a look at some customer success stories, first starting with Indaer
For Indaer, Solid Edge and Solid Edge Simulation was their solution to better design thru simulation- helping them reduce development time, improve overall productivity by 40 percent and develop safe reliable products.
Tomcar is an Australian company that creates innovative and unique ATV’s designed to withstand the rigors of some of the toughest terrain found anywhere in the world. Here's what there CEO had to say:
“We use Solid Edge from sketching to modeling and the built-in finite element analysis for simulation. It certainly helped us save on resources and time.”
Can you imagine tearing across the Australian outback in that thing. You would definitely want to know it was structurally sound.
Res-q-tec makes rescue and salvage equipment so product reliability is critical.
Using integrated Solid Edge Simulation makes it possible for this company not only to develop quality products, but also eliminate costly outsourcing while doing it.
The solution facilitates innovation and helps narrowing down to the most optimal design using an iterative process.
The GEA Farm Technologies Competence Center for Manure Management moved from 2D to 3D computer-aided design (CAD) in 2005. Like thousands of companies moving from 2D, GEA prospered
with its new 3D CAD system, Solid Edge® software. The benefits were widespread, including better visualization of fit and tolerance, easier and fewer change orders, the ability to quickly communicate design intent to
manufacturing as well as customers, a reduction in physical prototypes, more efficient drawing production, and measurable results.
The productivity didn’t stop there. By moving to 3D design, GEA now accesses a powerful downstream application, Solid Edge Simulation, a finite element analysis (FEA) tool embedded inside the CAD system. The simulation tool raised confidence among an engineering staff eager to further elevate the reputation of its agricultural machinery. GEA’s choice of the embedded simulation tool enabled the company to keep its FEA work within its design department. Streamlined design/analysis allowed GEA to quickly reap the benefits.
Consumer products manufacturer Zumex markets products in over 80 countries and owns 50 percent of the worldwide juicer market. Their products are considered “premium” requiring exceptional innovative design and the highest of quality standards. With being the leader comes exceptional market pressures, including the need for innovation, revolutionary technology and speed to market.
To answer the challenge, Zumex turned to Solid Edge for both design and simulation with particularly intense use during the concept phase.
By using Solid Edge, Zumex deepened its product conceptualization, streamlined its validation processes, increased interdepartmental coordination- allowing them to achieve an astounding 50% reduction in development time
Indaer, Tomcar, Modern Machine Fab, Res-q-tec and Zumex are all a testament to achieving significant ROI from designing their products with Solid Edge while using simulation.
You’ve heard solid edge mentioned throughout this session, but we’ve not yet formally introduced it. Let’s wrap up this session with a quick overview of solid edge
Solid Edge is a complete 3D design and engineering solution that transform ideas into great products and gets them to market now. Using synchronous technology accelerates equipment design, speeds revisions and improves the re-use of previous designs.
Solid Edge Simulation , the topic of todays session, for digital validation of critical components reduces the need to create physical prototypes, lowers material and testing costs and improves reliability.
Solid Edge Manufacturing for definition of accurate machining, fabrication and assembly processes improves overall manufacturing efficiency.
Solid Edge Design Management improves the overall efficiency of equipment design projects and ensures that accurate product data, specifications and requirements documents are available to all.
And a growing app ecosystem
Solid Edge Apps extend the capabilities of Solid Edge to provide a complete ecosystem for product development and manufacturing that meets the needs of today’s manufacturing organizations.
There is a vast array of applications, from process plant design to tools and utilities- for rapid, high-quality product development and functionalities related to design and engineering.
Lets open up the floor for any questions you may have.
Solid Edge is the answer to bring your product development process and organization to the next level of effectiveness and profitability. It will make a difference in your business. You will see better products to market faster.
Don’t just take my word for it. Take the next step by test driving Solid Edge today with our free 45 Day Online Trial. Now you can try a fully loaded version of Solid Edge free with no obligation. Discover how solid edge provides the speed and simplicity of direct modeling with the flexibility and control of parametric design as well as bring the simulation process forward- all in one easy to use package.
Or even better - call us for free 1-hour design process consultation. We’ll walk through your current design and simulation processes together, assess your strengths and weaknesses compared to the best in the business and pinpoint specific ways that we can help you improve.
Contact us today to get started!
On behalf of the entire team here at “Reseller Name”, I’d like to Thank You ! We know your time is valuable.
If you have any additional questions or would like a deeper look at how Solid Edge can help your product development challenges, please contact me directly.
If you would like to try solid edge for free - we’d be happy to help set that up. I've included our contact information here.
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Thank you once again. We hope to hear from you soon.