Institution news
Please briefly explain your current role and involvement in
simulation and modelling technologies.
David Heiny (DH): I am co-founder and CEO of SimScale. At SimScale, we’re operating a cloud-native SaaS
platform that makes high-fidelity simulation truly accessible from everywhere, and at any
scale. Our customers are engineering organizations from several industries such as
Automotive, Architecture, Industrial Equipment, and Electronics with whom we work to solve
their engineering challenges around structural, thermal, and flow performance of their
products.
What is the number one challenge holding back the integration of
simulation and modelling?
DH: Engineers have long been constrained by legacy desktop simulation software. Even if you make
it past sourcing expensive CAE software licenses, paying for the maintenance and technical
support, procuring expensive local HPC hardware, and waiting for IT to deploy your tools,
you’re still confronted by computational resources that do not scale up on-demand, nor offer
the full-spectrum simulation and analysis capabilities. Beyond this, the next challenge is how to
get novice simulation users to a point where they produce reliable simulation results
consistently and make design decisions with confidence. These cost and technical barriers of
traditional simulation software have stalled the adoption of simulation. Cloud-native
simulation solutions offer engineers a way around these traditional challenges.
What are the most common gripes you hear from engineers
involved in CAE?
DH: We’re talking a lot with our customers about the bottlenecks that are preventing the earlier
and broader adoption of simulation in the workflow of their engineering teams. The aspects we
hear the most often are the steep learning curve of simulation tools along with the prohibitive
cost of purchasing and maintaining required hardware and software.
What key topics are you excited to discuss at this year's
conference?
DH: I’m excited to discuss what’s required to make simulation a standard tool in every engineer’s
tool stack and as such, help to build better products faster. Apart from that, there are many
exciting novel use cases for simulation in the conceptual design phase as well as during product
operations.
Who else are you most interested in hearing from on the
programme?
DH: There are many very interesting talks on the programme. I’m particularly looking forward to
the talks about the role of simulation in the design of fusion breeding blankets as well as
hearing how Jaguar Land Rover integrated simulation and testing in their design process.
What developments in simulation and modelling are you most
interested in for the future and why?
DH: I believe there is a lot of customer and shareholder value left to be created via using simulation
in more engineering organizations and within them, earlier and broader. I’m particularly
interested in developments that facilitate such a wider use of simulation - be it cloud,
collaboration, methods with higher tolerance to geometric invalidity and detail - just to name a
few examples.
Why is it important for engineers to join this event?
DH: Best practices in product design processes and tools are constantly evolving. I believe learning
how other organizations employ simulation is an important source of inspiration for how to
keep one’s own design process “up to the mark”. This event is a time-efficient way of learning
and getting inspired from many different organizations quickly.
Simulation and Modelling 2021 takes place live and online on 14 September 2021.
Don't miss your chance to join this popular forum to discuss the latest developments being made with computer aided and virtual engineering. Explore the advances being made with integration, optimisation and validation, from design stage right through to manufacturing, with case studies from Jacobs, Ford, Jaguar Land Rover, FIMAC, National Physics Laboratory and more.
For further details and to book your place, please visit the event website.