Are we at the Tipping Point?

It is my humble opinion that we are near the tipping point where Modeling and Simulation will be used by Most Every R&D team and Manufacturer. Companies such as Good Year Tire have been modeling tires since the mid 1980s and as cost of computing came down and accuracy increased so did the use of M&S at other Fortune 100 companies.

I talk to companies of all sizes every day and I believe the stars are lined up for M&S to impact Engineering, Design, and Manufacturing in a big way. Here are some of the reasons why I believe the time is now:

-The past few years computing power and core counts have become very affordable (thanks for competing AMD and Intel)

-There are several great competing commercial codes available and a specialized code for almost every application. Finally most applications are user friendly, and have some common sense design flow built in.

-The cloud and 5G are here and in full swing which will connect Models to Digital twins to the Shop Floor. With the rollout of 5G connecting will be easier than ever. Sensor cost comes down monthly and there are several competing technologies finally at commercialization to power sensors remotely or with batteries that will last years.

-The entire development process and chain is ready. From AM and Industrial IIoT to Digital Twins these technologies are also at a tipping point and they all plug into and work with each other.

-I am already seeing smaller companies take advantage of M&S and once they reap the benefits they do not go back to traditional design and engineering processes.

-I know AI is a buzzword right now but AI is everywhere and it is making a big impact through generative design.

-Most colleges are finally teaching engineers how to use different FEA software packages so finding talent to incorporate M&S into workflow will not be as difficult as in the past.

There are big changes in technology on the Horizon and I think they will all drive each other. With all these changes Quality will go up and at the same time cost and time will go down.