Dassault Systèmes Plants Flag in SLM Space
Dassault Systèmes is trailblazing in new territory with this week's announcement of a product suite that manages simulation data and processes.
The product, SIMULIA SLM, addresses the emerging market of simulation lifecycle management (SLM) by providing a way to structure engineering simulation data that to date has been informally archived, tucked away on CDs, or even discarded.
The SLM product category is just starting to gain traction. The idea emerged about three years ago during discussions with end users who were struggling to manage their simulation data and engineering intellectual property, according to Dassault.
The company, which has a stable of brands that cover all areas of product design and management, set out to solve the problem by marrying its ENOVIA PLM architecture with its SIMULIA computer-aided engineering and simulation technology.
"Our customers had been describing a need," said Bruce Hart, director of Americas business development at Dassault's SIMULIA group. "They hadn't done a good job of optimizing an approach because their processes are not standardized and data is unmanaged. So it is [an area] ripe for a lot of efficiency gains," he said in an interview with Managing Automation.
Simulation has become a hot spot in manufacturing, as it can accelerate product development, allowing for more innovation and less waste. For example, Dassault's CATIA software provides a digital mockup of a product, enabling design and simulation on the computer screen and eliminating the need to build physical prototypes. Similarly, Dassault's DELMIA group is working on digital manufacturing technology that can electronically lay out the production environment based on product design specifications.
SIMULIA SLM carries the concept into the digital manufacturing arena, Hart said. For example, engineers simulating a stamping die to analyze areas that may wear down quickly could share that information with product designers, as well as engineers architecting the production floor.
SIMULIA SLM provides secure storage, search, and retrieval functions to manage the complex digital renderings. "We refer to it as SLM because simulations are used throughout the lifecycle of a product," Hart said.
Ultimately, manufacturers can benefit from SLM in three ways: They gain engineering efficiency, have a way to standardize processes, and can now capture engineering intellectual property.
"Engineers spend a lot of time looking for data, so this speeds that up, which buys them more time to do deeper studies or try more variations to make better design decisions," Hart said.
In addition, by standardizing processes in each project, the software eliminates redundancy. It also captures the engineering expertise of the most seasoned professionals, which becomes a valuable database of reusable data, Hart explained.
Other companies, including Siemens UGS and MSC Software, are exploring similar SLM solutions, but so far, this is untapped territory.
Dassault's announcement marks an early, limited release of SIMULIA SLM, with general availability to follow in mid-2008. Pricing details for the product suite were not available.
The new release can integrate and control the execution of simulation applications, carry out operations such as query and version control, administer access privileges, and perform review simulations in a distributed, collaborative environment.
SIMULIA SLM supports Dassault's simulation applications, along with a variety of third-party applications, including Nastran, HyperMesh, AcuSolve, and STAR-CD. Customers can also configure SLM for their specific applications, the company said. |