With EASA, Air International has leveraged the benefits of simulation and modeling by creating custom, task-specific web apps simplifying the use of many CAE workflows, including tools such as Fluent, NX/NASTRAN, and CATIA. Furthermore, expert knowledge was embedded into the streamlined user interface, making modeling and simulation available to engineers and designers with little or no CAE experience while also significantly accelerating the process for experienced users.

In addition to significant ease of use improvements, Air International benefited from many other EASA advantages, including:

• Deployment of tools and models was easy and fast
• Access control (who could see results, use apps and collaborate) was implemented, as well as audit information tracking
• Critical intellectual property embedded in the models was completely secured
• Custom apps could be developed by experienced modelers without relying on programmers, enabling a highly efficient implementation and knowledge capture process

The problem of legacy applications

Over the past four decades, IT staff at Monsanto have developed many custom applications to help the firm’s managers, engineers, and plant operators to solve problems specific to the business. However, these applications were developed in the days of DOS; being command line driven, they were very difficult to use, especially for younger employees accustomed to more modern graphical user interfaces.

Moving to a new environment

Monsanto decided to utilize EASA’s patented approach. EASA enables rapid codeless creation and deployment of web-based applications that connect to one or more existing software tools.

Using simulation in product development is nothing new. There are many simulation tools that help users solve practical issues.

Beyond achieving success with important singular issues, engineers and their companies have been trying to achieve a global solution at a system level.  This type of solution encompasses subsystems or components from domains such as mechanical, electrical, thermal and controls, and includes embedded software.

The Democratization of Simulation with Intelligent Templates
Realizing the Full Benefits of Simulation

An “Intelligent Template” is an innovative concept in product development that focuses on the automation of simulation processes across a product family. The template leverages the common functional architecture across the product family using a concept called the Abstract Model. This functional model of the product family is independent of a particular instance of the product design and of its geometry. The template captures the simulation best practices of the organization and enforces them when it is executed on a particular instance of the product design.

Experts must create the templates, but non-experts can use them reliably.

Keith Meintjes, CIMdata Practice Manager, 2012.
This publication is derived from the keynote presentation by Malcolm Panthaki of Comet Solutions at the CIMdata annual conference, PLM Road Map 2011.