The most creative engineers in the world are in the U.S., and all the breakthroughs in new technology come from here.
Right?
Wrong, of course.
Certainly, U. S. engineers are among the first to take a chance with new technology. Just ask software developers. They’ll tell you that most often it’s Americans who will try the latest CAD innovation first. 3D solid modeling software, for example, has taken off faster here than in Europe and Asia. Still, a closer look reveals some interesting insights:
CATIA, long one of the major CAD programs in the world and among the leaders in adding new functionality, is developed in France by Dassault Systemes, a subsidiary of IBM.
Open CASCADE, the recently commercialized software architecture of Matra Datavision, is also a product of French origin.
Frammasoft, another innovative software package, is based in France.
OneSpace, one of the pioneering web-enabled engineering collaboration tools, originated in CoCreate’s German offices.
SYSNOISE, among the leading finite element analysis programs for predicting vibroacoustics, is developed in Belgium for LMS.
FALANCS, another LMS software product for predicting durability and fatigue, is developed in Germany.
MICROCADAM, another important CAD package is developed in part in Japan.
And we haven’t even touched on some of the other important engineering technologies that originate outside the U.S. For example, such leading and innovative companies as Schneeberger, NTN Bearing, NSK, NMB, and SKF, among others, all have major product-line-development arms on other continents. And each one, like the software companies, is noted for the quality of its technology and technical support.
You’ll find many other examples of innovative engineering work in this special International Issue of Design News. It all points to one of the prime realities of design and manufacturing today:
Engineering genius is truly a global phenomenon—more now than ever before.
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The rare earth element market has become steadily more rational, and new sources coming online will continue to reduce costs. Still, it is unlikely that prices will drop to their former lows.
Against a backdrop of mounting product complexity and a need to keep a lid on development costs, companies are recognizing a need to make simulation a more integral part of the design process. In response, vendors in the CAD world are building out CAE functionality as part of their CAD suites while simulation vendors are building tighter integrations to leading CAD tools. Keith Meintjes, Ph.D., Practice Manager, Simulation and Analysis at CIMdata, Inc., joins Design News CAD Editor Beth Stackpole in this radio program to explore the new face of integrated CAD and CAE, how companies are benefitting from this tighter partnership between platforms, and how integrating CAE earlier in the development cycle pays off in optimized product designs.
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