This presentation was made at CAASE18, The Conference on Advancing Analysis & Simulation in Engineering. CAASE18 brought together the leading visionaries, developers, and practitioners of CAE-related technologies in an open forum, to share experiences, discuss relevant trends, discover common themes, and explore future issues.

Resource Abstract

This paper describes structured four-stage process for the development and deployment of a business centric, platform neutral approach risk-balanced approach to simulation democratization currently being employed by major OEM in the discrete manufacturing space. Below are some of the steps of this approach:
1. OEM’s Business Drivers were aligned and linked to Simulation Democratization: Links between the OEM’s Business Drivers (revenue/cost), Machine Systems and Engineering Domains were established to focus Simulation Democratization efforts on areas that would have the greatest impact to the OEM.
2. The OEM’s “As Is” Simulation Democratization Maturity State was Assessed: Detailed discussions were performed with various leaders from the different Machine Systems to assess their functional areas Simulation Democratization Maturity. Current simulation democratization projects were evaluated against two criteria. The first criterion was Critical Success Factors (CSF), which are factors that successful simulation democratization initiatives have had in common in industry. Some of these factors include: (1) Having senior management support, (2) understanding that there are multiple approaches to democratization (not just buying some vendor’s platform), etc. The second criterion was evaluating these initiatives against established Simulation Democratization Principles (SPDs). Some of these SPDs include: Having solutions that speak the language of the intended user, anticipating user mistakes, etc. This resulted in the “As Is” state of Simulation Democratization Maturity at the OEM.
3. Simulation Democratization Strategies to Close Gap were Determined: A Risk vs. Return platform agnostic portfolio framework for strategies for Simulation Democratization was presented to the team leaders. These strategies from lower risk/lower reward to higher risk / higher reward included: (1) Improving Current Tools Robustness & Usability, (2) Developing a Virtual Engineering Toolbox (VET), (3) Creating CAD Embedded Solutions and (4) Automating Simulation Processes through SPDM and Developing Faster Solving Methods. More detailed discussions with Machine Systems leaders led to the identification of key demonstrator pilot project that would move the needle in increasing the OEM’s Simulation Democratization Maturity and close the gap identified in the “As Is” state.
4. Simulation Democratization Pilot Projects to Close Gap were Proposed and Implemented: Pilot Demonstrator Simulation Democratization Project Charters were written and aligned with the specific needs of Machine Systems business objectives. These demonstrator projects used Simulation Democratization “Best Practices” and addressed resources, risks, timelines and alignment with key stakeholders from the OEM’s Machine Systems.