Accurately predicting parts, products or systems behavior early in the design process is a challenging task, but many companies will not develop a product without engineering simulation. The practice is complex, requiring proper modeling and relevant simplifying assumptions so engineers, managers, executives and other stakeholders can fully understand product behavior — without neglecting any important aspects. After an initial design phase, the engineering team subjects the design to a range of virtual scenarios, sometimes to predict product behavior under service or extreme conditions and other times to explore what-if scenarios to optimize product performance and determine operational tradeoffs. When used this way, engineering simulation can be an extremely cost-effective practice. At General Motors, technology makes it possible to quickly evaluate hundreds of designs in batch processes to explore an automobile’s complete design space. This way, the GM team — engineering and otherwise — knows that they have developed the best possible design.

What-If Analysis — Modeling Uncertainties

“Companies often focus on time to market, but the advantages of fast product introduction may be quickly overshadowed by the huge cost of poor quality, resulting in product recalls, rework, warranty payments and lost business from negative brand image,” explained Andreas Vlahinos, president of Advanced Engineering Solutions. Products that meet integrity targets and fulfill consumers’ expectations are key to success. Using tools that accurately predict product behavior, it is straightforward to modify a product’s virtual environment to reproduce situations it might experience throughout its lifecycle. This helps to ensure that the product will behave appropriately and safely no matter the circumstances — for example, a building that must sustain the blow of a major hurricane, a phone that can be dropped or crushed but still work. 

Since real-world product dimensions, material properties and operating conditions vary slightly from an average value, the accumulation of these small variations could lead to dramatic impact on whole-product behavior. Pioneering companies have started to use engineering simulation to ensure that, despite such variations, the product will behave as expected throughout its life cycle. This new discipline called robust design.

Design Optimization

If good design is a clear competitive advantage, a company will not maintain market leadership if the design is not “best the first time.” In our fast-paced global economy, good ideas are quickly identified, mimicked and improved. How does a company stand out? By incorporating virtual optimization into the design process, Dyson engineers have been able to test up to 10 different designs per day, whereas a physical prototype took a few weeks. The R&D team tested 200 different configurations — 10 times more than their previous practice — releasing a robust and completely innovative design with their bladeless fan. The cost of doing parametric optimization on a few selected parameters has become so inexpensive that companies cannot afford to bypass the opportunity to strengthen the competitive advantage that accompanies first-to-market designs.

Smart Tradeoffs

In most cases, design parameters do not trend in the same direction. Cost and quality, for example, can be opposite forces. In Formula 1 race car design, the BMW Sauber Team must trade off downward force for reduced drag. Such a strategic decision is difficult and risky without a clear and quantified understanding of its consequences. 

Furthermore, once a satisfying robust design is reached, alternative solutions can be found to meet more efficient manufacturing processes or to substitute cheaper, more sustainable materials without greatly compromising product performance and quality. This strategic decision is often made by executives who define the most meaningful tradeoff — the one that will fit company strategy, initiatives and values. Without an accurate assessment of consequences, such a strategy is very risky.