How NX CAD and Simulation Reduce Design Risks

In today’s fast-paced product development environment, companies face the constant challenge of bringing innovative products to market efficiently and reliably. A common problem here is unforeseen design risks, which can lead to costly rework, delays and, in the worst case, product failures later on in the development process. How can these risks be identified and eliminated at an early stage? One answer lies in the intelligent integration of design and simulation.

Common design risks in the development process

Product development is a complex process that harbours a multitude of potential pitfalls. Design errors can manifest themselves at various stages and have far-reaching consequences. The most common design risks include:

• Functional failure: Components or assemblies fail to meet the required performance criteria, for example due to insufficient stiffness, strength or thermal properties.
• Manufacturing problems: The design is not suitable for manufacturing, leading to high scrap rates, complex manufacturing processes or even the impossibility of production.
• Collisions and space constraints: Particularly in complex assemblies, components may collide with one another or the required installation space may not be maintained.
• Fatigue and wear: An insufficient service life of components can lead to premature failure and high warranty claims.
• Oversizing: Components are designed to be unnecessarily bulky or complex, which increases material costs and weight without offering any functional benefit.
• Lack of maintainability: The product design makes subsequent maintenance or repair difficult, leading to higher operating costs and customer dissatisfaction.

These risks often arise because design decisions are made without sufficient validation. Traditional approaches using physical prototypes are time-consuming and costly, and only allow for validation at late stages of development.

The use of NX CAD and simulation offers a range of practical benefits that have a direct impact on the efficiency and quality of product development:

• Early risk detection: Design errors and weaknesses are identified at the digital model stage, rather than only when a physical prototype is produced. This enables rapid and cost-effective correction.
• Reduction in rework and iterative cycles: As designs can be optimised virtually, the need for time-consuming physical prototypes and repeated adjustments to them is significantly reduced. This speeds up the entire development process.
• Optimisation of performance and quality: Simulation allows components to be specifically optimised for their function, strength and service life. This leads to more robust, reliable and high-performance products.
• Cost and time savings: Fewer physical prototypes, less rework and faster development cycles result in significant cost and time savings.
• Innovation through experimentation: The ability to quickly test different design variants virtually fosters creativity and enables the exploration of innovative solutions that would be too time-consuming to pursue using traditional methods.
• Knowledge building and documentation: Simulation results provide valuable insights into product behaviour and can be used for documentation and future developments.

Simulation within the CAD process using Siemens PLM NX enables developers to make informed decisions based on reliable data and to ensure the success of product development right from the start.