Finite element analysis (FEA) is a powerful tool for engineering design and optimization, but it can also help you reduce product costs by improving efficiency, quality, and performance. In this article, you will learn how to use FEA to achieve cost savings in six ways.
One of the main benefits of FEA is that it can help you design products with minimal material usage, while still meeting the required strength, stiffness, and durability criteria. By using FEA to analyze the stress, strain, deformation, and failure modes of your product under different loads and conditions, you can identify and eliminate unnecessary or excessive material, or replace it with cheaper or lighter alternatives. This can reduce the weight, size, and complexity of your product, as well as the material and manufacturing costs.
What is this new element the main concern of a engineer is to give the best possible results for the project and if it requires something to be safe, reliable and efficient then the cost needs to be taken into consideration and mabye not trying to make the first million in one go might work out better for everyone ??
What is this new element the main concern of a engineer is to give the best possible results for the project and if it requires something to be safe, reliable and efficient then the cost needs to be taken into consideration and mabye not trying to make the first million in one go might work out better for everyone ??
Another way to use FEA to reduce product costs is to optimize the design parameters of your product, such as shape, geometry, dimensions, layout, configuration, and topology. By using FEA to evaluate the performance and functionality of your product under various scenarios and constraints, you can find the optimal design that maximizes the desired output and minimizes the undesired input. For example, you can use FEA to optimize the aerodynamics, heat transfer, fluid flow, or vibration of your product, and reduce the drag, friction, energy loss, or noise that affect the efficiency and quality of your product.
Product costs can be kept low by leveraging Finite Element Analysis. Product designs start with a known configuration, and make small successive changes to achieve desired performance parameters. In my experience this is common to designing tires, nuclear reactors, shoes, oil and gas equipment, and much else. Building prototypes and conducting live testing is procedure. This is done from 2 to 10 times normally. To save time and cost, FEA is used for virtual testing, in place of some, but not all, of the build/test/design phases. Virtual testing should be conducted using the same guidelines as that of real testing. At least 1 prototypes should always be built, if feasible. (It was not with reactors, for example.) #virtualtesting ??
FEA can also help you reduce the costs associated with prototyping and testing your product, by enabling you to simulate and validate your design before manufacturing it. By using FEA to model and analyze the behavior and response of your product in a virtual environment, you can reduce the need for physical prototypes and tests, which can be time-consuming, expensive, and risky. FEA can also help you identify and correct any design flaws, errors, or defects early in the design process, and avoid costly rework, recalls, or failures later on.
It's often hard to quantify the cost savings FEA provide by reducing the testing costs. In the end all products are tested once so the savings here require your business to appreciate the cost of failure. If that's the case, you probably aren't reading this answer. To tackle this, I view FEA as a virtual testing ground, where we can test 100+ more designs than would be feasible physically. Ultimately, one of these designs will be more robust, better performing and/or cheaper to make. This is often clearer to define, if we make x product 20% cheaper, it easy to draw a theoretical ROI, and usually with quality FEA, we can achieve this. After the programme finishes, you can prove the saving of FEA vs Physical in terms of designs considered.
FEA can also help you enhance the reliability and durability of your product, by helping you predict and prevent any potential failures or malfunctions that could compromise the safety and performance of your product. By using FEA to assess the fatigue, fracture, wear, corrosion, creep, or buckling of your product under various stress cycles and environmental factors, you can ensure that your product can withstand the expected service life and conditions, and meet the relevant standards and regulations. This can reduce the maintenance, repair, and replacement costs of your product, as well as the risk of liability or reputation damage.
Robust Design Principles are the cornerstone of product reliability and durability. FEA is the best solution for this, because we can easily add randomness to designs, through stochastic approaches, to represent the inherent variability from manufacture, use, environment that would simply be impossible to capture physically - with any level or repeatability. It's an area of FEA I strongly encourange more users to explore. Taking a high-level complete product view, and optimising this product for minimum variance across finished products, across the widest spectrum of potential usage scenarios. This will save ￡millions in recalls and build strong connections with your end clients.
Finite Element Analysis (FEA) is an excellent tool for planning before, during and after the development of a product. FEA allows to reduce costs by avoiding unnecessary prototyping or manufacturing of designs that are destined to failure once adequate simulations are run. Moreover it can be used during the whole life cycle of a product because of the continuous changes that are implemented. It is important to remember that FEA is an approximation tool for problem definition, and has its own limitations. Therefore, interpretation of results should be handled with care.
FEA can also help you increase customer satisfaction and loyalty, by helping you deliver a product that meets or exceeds their expectations and needs. By using FEA to analyze the functionality, usability, ergonomics, and aesthetics of your product from the customer's perspective, you can ensure that your product provides the desired benefits and value to the customer, and solves their problems or challenges. This can increase the customer's satisfaction with your product, as well as their loyalty and retention, which can lead to more repeat purchases, referrals, and positive feedback.
FEA can also help you gain competitive advantage and market share, by helping you create a product that stands out from the competition and attracts more customers. By using FEA to innovate and improve your product design, quality, and performance, you can offer a product that is superior, unique, or differentiated from the alternatives in the market, and that appeals to the customer's preferences and demands. This can increase your product's value proposition, brand recognition, and market share, and ultimately, your revenue and profit.