If your manufacturing company takes too long to bring products to life, you’re missing a trick. Let’s find out more about simulation.
When designing new products, at what part of the process do you start building an estimated simulation? The earlier you start a simulation, the faster you can develop your product and the more innovative you can be. Thanks to simulation tools like PTC Creo, simulation and iteration have never been easier.
In this article, we’ll look at why some manufacturers are reluctant to run simulations of their products early in the design process. Then, we’ll show you a solution. Let’s get started.
The old ways
Companies have traditionally been hesitant to deploy simulation early in the design process. There are good reasons behind this: creating simulations is expensive and time-consuming. In addition, depending on what you’re making, you might need wind tunnels, race tracks, crash test facilities and other elaborate technologies. Then, if something turns out to be wrong with the simulation, you have to go back to the drawing board all over again.
The problem with this hesitance is that it discourages innovation. Designers play safe because the time and expense involved with taking a gamble (that could pay off or not) is not worth the risk. Today, only 40% of companies say they are comfortable running full-spec product design simulations. When challenged, the answer is always, ‘It’s how we’ve always done it.’
The solution
In today’s world, manufacturing companies have no reason to hold back on simulation in their design process. Technology exists that gives designers access to everything they need to test their hypotheses from the very start of the process.
For example, PTC Creo’s simulation features give you access to digital tools, including:
- Thermal analysis
- Modal analysis
- Structural analytics and more
And because it’s a PTC solution, you don’t have to convert files from your other design programs to reap the rewards.
Digital solutions aren’t here to completely replace physical prototyping. Instead, they allow designers to create, test and iterate much faster than ever, without the associated costs. When you finally get to the stage where you build a physical prototype, it’s more likely to be perfect, reducing the need to return to the drawing board.
Benefits
Switching to a digital simulation approach brings a wide range of benefits to your design process, including:
- Workflow efficiency gains
- More confidence in your decision-making – you can create multiple options for your design and select the best one
- Shorter product development times
- Lower development costs – you build fewer expensive physical prototypes
The result? Better products with fewer quality issues.
Find out more from Concurrent Engineering
PTC Creo allows you to start simulation from the very beginning of your design process, delivering a wide range of benefits and, ultimately, higher quality products. The question is, are you ready to break from the old way of doing things?
Creo is a 3D CAD solution that helps you accelerate product innovation to build better products faster. Easy to learn, Creo takes you seamlessly from the earliest phases of product design to manufacturing and beyond.
