In the previous article (“Vol. 1- Impact of Multiphysics Simulations on Product Development”) I have described in general lines the problems associated with product development life cycle and how simulations and virtual prototyping can save valuable time and money without sacrificing quality.
In this article I would like to share with you some numbers and conclusions from a magnificent report “The Value of Virtual Simulation Versus Traditional Methods” prepared by Aberdeen Group. The report describes how companies that use simulations and virtual prototyping for new product development (NPD) outperform their peers that use physical prototyping.
To make a long story short, let’s have a look at the chart below. It briefly, but precisely, shows how implementation of virtual simulation to NPD improves by 15 %, on average, the ability of companies to achieve targets of product quality, revenue, launch date, and cost in comparison to traditional methods of manual calculations and physical prototyping. Just imagine how many opportunities your company (or you personally) may have just by saving this much time, effort, and money.
So, why does this happens?
Let’s take an example. Imagine you wish to develop new air purifier device based on novel nano-photocatalytic material. Sounds innovative, isn’t it? In principle, it’s quite a simple device that has many R&D challenges. First of all, you need to find this nano-photocatalytic material (ask the scientists they will tell you). Now when you have it, you need to solve a number of engineering and scientific issues that will define device performance. Among those issues are, for example:
The photocatalytic material requires light to work, so you need to take care of how much light hits every square inch of your device otherwise it will not work properly.
The air flow rate, its distribution, and the filter shape affect the device performance due to air-to-filter interaction time.
Now we can discuss what kind of skilled personal you require for the development:
Someone who understands in nano-photocatalytic material (the scientist for example)
An engineer that understands in air flow, filters, light distribution and acoustics (multi-purpose engineer)
An electrical engineer that will build the electrical circuit
Someone who can design the physical prototype
I have counted four people (including the multi-purpose engineer) for this comparably simple device, but I may still miss someone. According to Aberdeen Group survey, over 60% of surveyed companies feel understaffed in their technical positions.
Once you are sure that the proposed technological approach is feasible it is time to begin development of the prototype. But;
Through how many prototype cycles are you going to go through?
How far the prototype will be from the final product?
Are you sure that you get the maximum performance of the system (optimization)?
Without mentioning labor costs of at least four people, how much time the project will take?
So many questions, “what if” concerns, and expenses that you already begin to think “why at all my company needs this innovative nano-photocatalytic air purifier?”
Let’s suppose you are a well-established company, not best-in-class (that you wish to be), and you can handle all the expenses and losses related to physical prototyping. But, what if you are a start-up… fighting to impress investors to get funding, meet promised milestones, and save the extra dollar?
This task can be significantly simplified if in the product development stage you will implement virtual simulation tools. According to Aberdeen Group survey, implementation of virtual simulation tools reduces the number of physical prototypes by 48% (48%- amazing), enables more partial prototypes and fewer complete ones by 29%, and even eliminates completely physical prototyping in 9% of the cases.
In the next article I will discuss how virtual simulations may help technological and deep-tech start-ups to improve their chances for success, reduce development risks, and last but not least keep safer cash balance.
For information on modeling and simulation please visit https://www.to-4c.com/modeling-simulation