Altair Engineering announced today that MECAPLAST Group, France, one of the leading European automotive suppliers, has extended its use of HyperWorks to optimize its automotive products for weight and performance. Altair's CAE software family will be used within the Finite Element Analysis Department for the Body Skills Centre of the company, which is working closely with the Design Department and the Test & Validation Laboratory of MECAPLAST Group to evaluate technical specifications of its customers via simulation and to provide mechanical improvements toward a 'right-at-first-time' solution. In addition, the department is also working on the optimization of injection molded trim components taking into account tooling constraints.

Being a long-time Altair customer, MECAPLAST Group started using the HyperWorks suite in 2005 with the implementation of HyperMesh. The suite's finite element analysis (FEA) pre-processing software is used for the meshing of virtual models, such as garnish trims and door handles. Soon after, MECAPLAST Group implemented RADIOSS, Altair's FEA solver, into its development process for static and dynamic analysis. Recently, the company expanded its use of the HyperWorks suite to include OptiStruct for structural optimization. OptiStruct will be used to optimize the design of products, such as the inertia/weight ratio of garnish trims.

"When we first started to use HyperWorks, we were looking for an innovative meshing solution," said David Queval, FEA manager, Finite Element Analysis Department of Car Body Skills Centre, MECAPLAST Group. "The advantage of HyperMesh is the time savings we can realize with its automated meshing process. The open architecture design of HyperMesh also allows us to directly import and mesh any CAD model and export FE models to a large panel of commercial solvers. We discovered a cutting-edge solver technology in HyperWorks, RADIOSS, that addresses the needs of our Body Skills Centre and we are now beginning to leverage HyperWorks' optimization solution, OptiStruct. Weight optimization is gaining importance within the automotive industry, and customers and end-users alike are looking for lighter and better products that help to save money and to reduce CO2 emission. OptiStruct will enable us to meet those demands by developing and producing better and lighter parts in less time."

"We are very pleased with MECAPLAST Group's decision to extend its use of HyperWorks," said Mauro Guglielminotti, regional director, Altair, France. "With our HyperWorks CAE suite, we offer engineering companies like MECAPLAST Group all the simulation tools needed for an optimized development process. The extended use of HyperWorks at MECAPLAST Group will help to streamline development processes and will soon lead to shorter development times and an even better product quality. With OptiStruct, companies can address industry demands for weight- and shape-optimized products and drive the design process with simulation to get better results faster."