 With the advent of Moldflow Plastics Insight – Enterprise Edition™ (MPI-e™), Moldflow is helping companies that want to implement enterprise-enabled simulation to optimize their product development cycles. |
Organizations involved in the design of plastic parts face continuous pressure to get products to market faster. These compressed development cycles often result in simulation only being used to troubleshoot or validate designs. Failure to perform simulation early not only results in a greater likelihood of defective parts, but also in lost opportunities to optimize product for both manufacturability and performance.
New enterprise-enabled simulation solutions have been developed that provide those involved in development the tools they need to analyze their design and use the results to optimize their work.
Using this method, designs are analyzed and improved iteratively so potential problems are pre-emptively solved, and products are optimized prior to starting production, which leads to less testing. Running multiple analyses at each design phase will increase the quality and manufacturability of the part. The problem is that each analysis can take anywhere from a few minutes to several hours, so the challenge is to streamline simulation for each type of user.
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Businesses are turning to enterprise-enabled simulation to optimize their new products and development cycles. This kind of simulation can be used as a methodology for implementing analysis software into the best practices of any product development organization.
A shared licensing system is used in this methodology, so every seat purchased is placed into a pool in which it becomes accessible to anyone involved in development. This means occasional users can access the software whenever they need it without requiring an individual license.
Furthermore, enterprise-enabled simulation can be customized to a specific job function, and the types of analyses and results required at a particular stage of development. The software can be configured from meshing options to materials selection, available processing methods and default results displayed. This methodology also includes training programs specifically designed for different user levels, technical support and more.
Some of the specific benefits that can be realized through enterprise-enabled simulation include faster time-to-market, empowered engineers, reduced product cost, improved part quality, more products per year and increased innovation.
When looking for an enterprise-enabled simulation software product, consider the following key points:
- Accessibility. Simulation must be accessible by any member of a design-to-manufacturing team. This means going from only a few users to many users, and enabling even occasional users quick and easy access to the simulation technology that will allow them to optimize their design input.
- Configurability. The user interface and number of analysis options should be configurable based on job function, knowledge, skill and experience.
- Process integration. Enterprise-enabled simulation software should integrate easily with existing applications like 3-D CAD and CAE, as well as proprietary, company-specific applications.
- Communication focus. Valuable simulation results are only as good as your ability to communicate them to other members of a design-to-manufacturing team, thus the software should export to a number of industry-standard formats.
- Strategic implementation. Enterprise-enabled simulation must come with a strategic implementation plan that covers everything from licensing to training, technical support and material testing to maximize the return on investment.
Mike McCullough, process engineer at OEM/Erie, a Tier 1 and 2 supplier to General Motors and Chrysler, estimates that they see an average savings of $7,500 on each mold by utilizing simulation during design. McCullough says, “The savings come as a result of decreased prototype time to get good parts, optimizing gate locations early in the process, accurately predicting cooling patterns, eliminating mold retooling and freight costs, and material savings due to fewer defects.” With the advent of Moldflow Plastics Insight – Enterprise Edition™ (MPI-e™), Moldflow is helping companies that want to implement enterprise-enabled simulation to optimize their product development cycles. MPI-e is an enterprise-enabled simulation software suite comprised of:
- Moldflow Plastics Insight®-in-depth simulation of more than 20 different molding processes.
- Moldflow Plastics Advisers®-easy-to-use simulation to optimize designs for manufacturability.
- Moldflow Communicator™-visualization, quantification and comparison of Moldflow results.
The key features of MPI-e include a task-based floating license system, customizable workspaces, multiple importing and exporting capabilities, and extensive reporting and communication tools. MPI-e is based on tasks that float on a network, giving both occasional and dedicated users access to the full simulation suite. The MPI-e Dashboard allows users to see the usage of licenses on the network and to reserve, check out or check in tasks easily. MPI-e integrates with existing design applications using robust CAD interfaces, making it quick and simple to import 3-D solid geometry that is ready for analysis. MPI-e can also include Moldflow Structural Alliance, which links Moldflow results to leading structural CAE applications to ensure that structural analyses performed on injection-molded plastic parts are of the highest possible accuracy. MPI-e also features an application programming interface that can be used to customize outputs and interface with other software applications used across the organization.