ACADEMIA

Simulation in the Design Reduces Number of Physical Prototypes: In a recent Aberdeen benchmark, 100% of best-in-class manufacturers -- those meeting cost, revenue, quality, and launch date targets 86% or more of the time -- reported using simulation in the design phase. Only three out of four of the poorest performers -- those hitting their targets only 63% or less of the time -- do the same. The study, "The Simulation-Driven Design Benchmark Report: Getting It Right the First Time," examines when and how companies are using simulation during product development and correlates this usage with their performance. In particular, report findings show that companies using simulation in design require 1.6 fewer physical prototypes per product, leading to reductions in product development time and costs. "To be competitive, manufacturers must turn out more, and more complex, products -- in the face of ever shortening time-to-market windows. Yet, those that actually take the time to simulate and analyze designs early receive a big payoff," says Chad Jackson, Service Director of Aberdeen's Product Innovation and Engineering practice, and report author. "For example, our survey analysis revealed that -- on average -- manufacturers of the most complex products that use early simulation get to market 158 days earlier with $1,900,000 lower product development costs than other companies." The report also discloses several best practices in using simulation that lead to superior product development performance. For example, compared to other companies best-in-class manufacturers are: * 63% more likely to provide CAD-embedded simulation to their engineers. * 42% more likely to use specific in-house examples to train their engineers to use simulation in design * 48% more likely to provide technologies to transfer models from CAD to independent pre-processors for their expert analysts The report is made available to the public for free through the underwriting of ANSYS, Inc., Blue Ridge Numerics, ESI Group, and UGS. To download a complimentary copy of the report, visit its Web site.