NAFEMS Americas and Digital Engineering (DE) teamed up (once again) to present CAASE, the (now Virtual) Conference on Advancing Analysis & Simulation in Engineering, on June 16-18, 2020!

CAASE20 brought together the leading visionaries, developers, and practitioners of CAE-related technologies in an open forum, unlike any other, to share experiences, discuss relevant trends, discover common themes, and explore future issues, including:
-What is the future for engineering analysis and simulation?
-Where will it lead us in the next decade?
-How can designers and engineers realize its full potential?
What are the business, technological, and human enablers that will take past successful developments to new levels in the next ten years?

Resource Abstract

This presentation discusses changes in company culture through 20 years of growth of a small Product Development Company; McCormick Stevenson. Through a lessons-learned approach, executives and management personnel can use the history of McCormick Stevenson (MCCST) as an example for growth and future planning. From the start of the company with 2 engineers to today with almost 50 full-time employees, the successes and opportunities for improvement provide an excellent case study in example-based learning.

This presentation identifies how MCCST was able to effectively shift the responsibilities of executive involvement from technical to managerial, establish levels of internal management, as well as optimize day-to-day operations through use of a program management team. The evolution of the company shows how areas of management become more important as the company grows, while stressing the lessons learned along the way.

In order to meet customer need, MCCST has understood the challenges of staffing and has changed executive motivations for hiring. For early-stage companies, decisions made by MCCST act as a guide for meeting needs at several stages of company growth. Today, educated staffing decisions can be made based on a broad history of data.

Finally, this presentation will identify the ways in which MCCST has overcome the challenges of establishing training procedures for its analysts. MCCST is able to identify engineers with an aptitude for analysis, invests in simulation and other related training, and creates analysts that are better prepared to support engineering.

The lessons that McCormick Stevenson has learned over the last 20 years are shared so that other companies can make educated decisions for the unknown future. By identifying similar situations and expected patterns, companies can use what McCormick Stevenson has done to improve their position in their industry. Finally, companies can observe the effects of the investments made by McCormick Stevenson to improve internal procedures and evaluate if similar methods would be game-changing in their own company.