Virtual manufacturing uses simulated processes and computer models to design and optimize products, reducing costs and time. Finite Element Analysis software enables designers to simulate behavior and solve engineering problems. It can be used in any industry.
Virtual manufacturing involves the use of simulated manufacturing processes and computer models. These components can typically help with the manufacturing and design of the products being manufactured. A virtual manufacturer usually adds analytical simulation during production to ensure greater confidence in the whole process.
Before there was virtual manufacturing, design technology was more about the conceptual than the functional. Now, VR manufacturing allows designers to create a three-dimensional (3D) model of a product and then virtually test how efficiently it performs. Due to its virtual nature, this form of manufacturing usually allows companies to reduce the amount of money they spend on materials, warranties and manufacturing costs.
For example, an automobile manufacturer might use virtual manufacturing to design a component for a car’s engine. You can save money because you don’t have to build actual components for testing purposes. The software allows the manufacturer to test the component for maximum energy efficiency. This in turn can reduce the costs that would be required to operate the vehicle as a finished product, as well as reduce the impact the vehicle could have on the environment.
Companies usually need to optimize their products before releasing them for purchase. In order to implement the most efficient optimization possible, companies typically need to refine the factors that play a significant role in product profitability. These factors could include the final shape, shelf life, manufacturability, durable stress levels and overall life of the products.
Another important part of any company’s productive success is usually time efficiency. Originally, companies relied on improving physical prototypes of products that took time to build and rebuild. The virtual manufacturing software is designed with time efficiency in mind. This technology allows designers to change important details faster, thus helping to deliver the product sooner to market.
Finite Element Analysis (FEA) software implements the technology that enables the optimization and time efficiency upon which virtual manufacturing is based. Designers and engineers use FEA to simulate the behavior of various structures, to make design changes, and to see how those changes affect products. Engineering problems that FEA is designed to solve include fluid flow, heat transfer, and electromagnetism.
There are, in theory, no restrictions on the types of products for which Virtual Manufacturing FEA technology can be used. As long as it can be designed, a corresponding model can be made. This is evidenced by the fact that originally only the aerospace and automotive industries used it, but it has since expanded to include most industrial sectors.
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