The evolution of 3D CAD solutions has made it easy even for inexperienced designers to create great looking product models, but sometimes they don’t have the skills or expertise to ensure that their designs meet real-world requirements. The addition of simulation-driven design capabilities to top-shelf 3D CAD solutions such as PTC Creo has solved this problem by ensuring that designs are not just attractive but will also function as needed and hold up under expected workloads.

Simulation-driven design software should be an integral part of modern 3D CAD modeling systems.

The Buzz Surrounding Simulation-Driven Design

Simulation-driven design is a major change in the focus of engineering and design teams and it’s understandable that it would be generating a lot of discussion. The problem with discussion about new concepts is that often, people don’t really understand the fundamental idea, so their commentary may just muddy the waters.

Simulation-driven design sounds like a simple idea, and at its heart, it is. After all, engineers have been designing and simulating products for decades. What’s the big deal? Actually, simulation-driven design is a very big deal, because it allows companies to maximize their engineering design talent to increase both innovation and efficiency—something that traditional CAD methods can’t deliver.

But to graduate from buzzing about simulation-driven design to taking full advantage of its value, companies must understand how it fundamentally changes the design process to deliver benefits to the companies that adopt it.

Understanding Simulation-Driven Design

3D CAD tools such as Creo make it easy for people without fundamental engineering skills to create beautiful product designs and make suggestions about or changes to existing designs. But engineering is a math-intensive discipline. To ensure a product will bear the load that will be placed on it, engineers must analyze every aspect of the design to ensure it can withstand the stresses of real-world use.

Real-Time Analysis Drives Design Change

The effects of those stresses may require design changes. Thicker or flatter lines. Larger or smaller curves. A change in material—maybe to one that’s not as attractive but that can absorb heat or withstand cold better. It’s a balancing act.

With simulation-driven design, the designer/engineer can apply these real-world conditions to the model even during the design process, so when they’re finished, they know the product is the best they can make it within cost and usage constraints.

The simulation-driven design software actually performs the engineering calculations for them, so when they release the model, they know the product is buildable and fit for purpose. It’s a huge time and money saver, because it reduces or eliminates the need for prototypes and repeated test cycles.

Benefits of Simulation-Driven Design

Simulation-driven design provides many benefits to the engineering and design team, including:

  • Higher quality products
  • Faster time to market
  • Lower costs
  • Improved customer satisfaction
  • More innovative products
  • A more productive engineering team
  • Less reliance on prototypes

Simulation-driven design reduces cost, speeds time to market, and improves customer satisfaction.

Simulation-driven design improves the productivity of your engineering team. They can complete designs faster, and they won’t require as many redesign cycles before finding the right balance of appearance and performance.

When engineers use simulation-driven design, they can reduce or eliminate the need to create multiple prototypes. Through simulations of real-world workloads, they uncover potential quality issues sooner in the design process, enabling them to fix flaws early on. All of this helps to keep costs in line with design specifications. It also improves customer satisfaction with the final product, reduces the need for scrap or rework, and speeds time to market.

Simulation-driven design also increases product innovation. When engineers must go through a tedious computation cycle to try out new ideas, they may not have time if they are on a short development cycle. But with the speed of obtaining results inherent in simulation-driven design, engineers can let their imaginations fly. The result is often a much more innovative product that is more likely to capture additional market share.

Simulation-driven design allows engineers and designers to quickly do “what if” scenarios, resulting in more innovative products.

Getting Started with Simulation-Driven Design

One of the best things about a 3D CAD system with built-in simulation-driven design capabilities is that it is easy to get started. Engineers and designers already familiar with 3D CAD design tools usually don’t require additional training since the underlying user interface hasn’t changed.

Getting started with simulation-driven design is easy for people who already use 3D CAD.

If you are intrigued by the benefits and productivity improvement possibilities of simulation-driven design, you may want to contact us to learn more about Creo’s capabilities, which were introduced several years ago, and which have been enhanced multiple times since then. PTC’s dedication to improving and enhancing product capabilities ensures that Creo is the top performer when it comes to 3D CAD with integrated simulation-driven design capabilities.