Following the recent Eurovision excitement caused me to reflect back to when the UK last hosted the Eurovision Song Contest in 1998 in Birmingham following Katrina and the Waves' victory with Love Shine A Light in 1997. But most people my age, will probably remember the animated performance of Bucks Fizz’s Making Your Mind Up in 1981. Their follow up single which reached number one in the following year, The Land of Make Believe, was also a big hit. But what does any of this have to do with mechanical design engineering, I hear you say?
I’m sure everyone who has ever been involved, will agree that new product development (NPD) is a complex world where everything is pushed to the limit and beyond, in terms of cost, time and resources. In fact, it is most definitely far from being a cosy world of make believe, as it could be. Increasingly, clients require more certainty, when bringing a new product to market, and to this end simulation software is being used to remove doubt, and aide this concept.
Simulation Analysis is a way of carrying out numerous experiments in a virtual world, to predict the behaviour of materials and the integrity of a product’s design. It is deemed to be an intelligent option, having the ability to simulate multiple scenarios including experimenting with new materials and predicting the lifespan of some products. As the analysis is conducted faster than in real time, it consequently helps reduce the overall cost of bringing a product to market and design cycles are subsequently shortened as issues are highlighted in advance of prototyping. Additionally, the process has the bonus of saving on wasting materials and as a consequence is thus kinder to the planet.
This nicely returns me to the theme of Eurovision, and our own space man Sam Ryder who did us proud coming runner up to a well deserved Ukrainian entry.
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