Innovation is increasingly taking place at the system level. In fact, over 50% of the innovation is taking place at the system level where different technologies converge. The majority of differentiating functions in an automobile – such as adaptive cruise control, lane assist, parking assistant – involves several major subsystems, electronics, software, as well as dynamics and physics of the vehicle. Implementing these functionalities requires a new, systemic approach.
The manufacturing industry is experiencing increasing complexity through multi-domain design and the introduction of new materials. At the same time companies deal with the balance of mass-customisation, variability and reuse. The increased regulation, for instance for emissions, is bringing more challenges for companies dealing with electrification and automation. Competition is intensifying through new business models and the introduction of aspiring start-ups.
Innovation is increasingly coming out of systems and system design rather than from components.
IDEAL GRP is responding to these customer needs by increasing its breadth and width of simulation capacity by offering new solutions such as system simulation solutions and new services in the form of specialized engineering simulation courses online, such as Acoustics, Motion, Thermal and Flow Analysis, and Electronic Cooling Systems.
System simulation supports the design, manufacturing, and maintenance across industries, allowing manufacturers to predict the behavior of mechatronic systems, balance conflicting performance attributes, benchmark multiple design options to improve the product performance, and reduce physical prototyping and testing to a strict minimum.
IDEAL GRP has 30 years of experience in offering engineering simulations solutions and services. Engineering software expertise has been strongly included in the business from its inception, therefore, this development is a natural progression in the company’s portfolio development, together with Siemens.
“We have experienced already much interest from our customers in system simulation solutions and services, and the need to speed up the innovation process from as early on as possible in the product development cycle. Successful and forward-looking manufacturers consider mechatronics as a part of their Industry 4.0 initiatives in the Nordics. System simulation initiatives enable manufacturers to rapidly build digital twins before the first physical prototype becomes available, to optimize the interactions between mechanical, hydraulic, pneumatic, thermal, electric, and electronic systems” said Hannu Mäkinen, Solution Lead Engineering Simulation Business, IDEAL GRP.