OUR SIMULATION BREAKFAST WITH ALAN PRIOR, VP SIMULIA, DASSAULT SYSTEMES

DIGITAL SIMULATION, AT THE CORE OF PRODUCT ENGINEERING

[INTERVIEW] – We had the great pleasure to meet Alan Prior, Vice President, Worldwide Center of Simulation Excellence, SIMULIA, Dassault Systèmes, at KEONYS, in May 2016.

We took advantage of the opportunity to ask Alan some questions about SIMULIA technology’s key success factors and the growing role KEONYS will be playing to advocate for digital simulation.

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K. What are today the major challenges of digital simulation technology ?

A unique language for all

A.P. We have many areas of simulation technology available to us, but in many cases the specialists using this technology are in separate groups, or silos, and they don’t talk to each other. The challenge we have is to bring those simulation technologies closer together – structural mechanics, fluids, thermal, electromagnetics, systems – and allow people to collaborate more. Historically, engineers were doing separate simulations on each area of physics, which made the whole process really cumbersome. As a result simulation had a limited impact on the overall design process. Bringing the simulation technologies closer together will allow us to make a greater impact on the design process.

K. When will it be possible ?

A.P. Today the key objective for the SIMULIA brand is to enhance our simulation technology to address more physics and to be truly multi-scale ! We believe simulation can be more holistic, allowing everyone to work within a common integrated simulation community.

K. Is digital simulation adapted to all industries and for all sizes of companies ?

A.P. Absolutely ! Companies of all sizes can benefit from simulation, can experience the value. From large OEMs to small start-ups, most business can benefit from simulation, allowing them to reduce cost, reduce time to market, and improve product performance.

And simulation has value to all industries: not just the traditional ones like automotive and aerospace, but life sciences, consumer goods, alternative energy and so on.

K : How can digital simulation help customers be more creative and competitive ?

Design Process Innovation

A.P. We truly believe this is all about innovation. In the past, we used simulation to solve specific problems; and in many cases, we spent too much time problem-solving and the solution came too late to influence the design. Now, not only we can solve more types of problem, and solve them faster, but we can also innovate, creating brand new ideas through simulation. Simulation has become a way to contribute to and to influence the design process.

Moreover, we can bring the end-user or consumer into the design process, using virtual models that they can interact with, and using their input to influence and validate early design concepts.

K. What are the 3 market trends of digital simulation ?

Integration for Innovation

A.P. I would say :

Multiphysics. We are integrating more and more physics capability into a common simulation environment, which provides enormous value to the simulation community.
Multiscale. As a result of recent Dassault Systemes acquisitions, our customers can now benefit from simulation technologies that cover dimension scales from the molecule, studying material properties and behavior, through components and assemblies, up to the full system.
Last but not least : Integration for Innovation. Our goal is to continue to enhance our simulation offer so that users can innovate and create new ideas, using systems engineering approaches, or topology optimization to create new shapes, or design exploration capabilities to explore parameter variation. We are not limited to solving individual problems: we can create design spaces and use the tools to search, to conduct experiments in the virtual world. And we are not limited to engineering; people from different disciplines can now work together, marketing, finance, manufacturing.

K. Can you explain how Dassault Systèmes 3DEXPERIENCE platform is particularly efficient in digital simulation domain ?

A.P. The 3DEXPERIENCE platform is a business platform combining the power of the Brands (including ENOVIA, CATIA and SIMULIA among others), providing access to design, simulation, visualization, requirements and production information. Moreover, this is available on your private infrastructure or on the cloud. This gives the simulation community access to a wide range of critical data, and the opportunity to provide simulation data to other stakeholders.

K. What is KEONYS added value in change management ?

A.P. KEONYS is a key simulation partner for Dassault Systèmes and for us in the SIMULIA brand. Your experts know the local market, the customers’ needs and share the vision of the DS simulation strategy. You can support your customers to grow with SIMULIA , using your expertise, domain knowledge and your large support capabilities. You can also accompany your customers on the 3DEXPERIENCE journey, helping them take full advantage of the Platform.

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