UK Product Developer Standardizes Design On HyperWorks

Troy-based Altair Engineering Inc. said the Essex, England product development consultant Vectayn has standardized its finite element analysis procedures with Altair's HyperWorks virtual simulation tools.

Altair said Vectayn will use HyperWorks and especially HyperMesh, the advanced FEA meshing system of the software suite, as the default model creation tool for all new automotive, aerospace and military projects.

Vectayn is a longtime user of HyperWorks and made the move in order to improve design development, productivity and increase flexibility whilst minimizing software costs.

As a major analysis consultancy primarily supporting the auto industry, it is vital that Vectayn deploys the best simulation tools available to exceed the expectations of their global brand clients. HyperWorks' pre-processing tool, HyperMesh, has been at the center of Vectayn's design process for many years, providing unique functionality to drive their analysis process.

"I've been in the industry for a long time and I've not yet seen a meshing tool that can equal HyperMesh by a very long margin," said Matthew Spoor, technical director at Vectayn. "Many providers claim many things about their meshing tools, but as a package, I can't find a comparable tool. HyperMesh's midsurfacing capabilities make the development and simulation of complex structures, such as vehicle interior plastics, much less time consuming allowing us to improve the results and service we supply to our clients."

In addition to the technical advantages the CAE suite offers, Vectayn has also found considerable cost benefits by joining the HyperWorks Partner Alliance. Through Altair's HWPA program, Vectayn has access to a growing number of third party simulation packages, including nCode's DesignLife, their preferred fatigue analysis software. Additional products in the HWPA can be accessed through Vectayn's existing HyperWorks licenses, which has allowed the company to reduce software spending.

"As a consultancy working with many different clients and in many different industries, we have a requirement to use a variety of extra simulation packages but on an irregular basis," Spoor said. "By utilizing our existing licenses, we can now access more analysis tools without having to increase our overall software spend. This allows us to be more flexible to our clients needs and enables us to offer additional services through the software we already have available."

Vectayn has recently expanded its use of the HyperWorks suite by integrating optimization with OptiStruct and data analysis with HyperGraph into their design process. Furthermore, with an increasing number of automotive OEMs moving their crash and impact analysis to HyperWork's RADIOSS solver, Vectayn have followed to match design capabilities and provide a more integrated service for their major clients.

Spoor called the technical support from HyperWorks employees "highly knowledgeable and always very responsive. This makes a huge difference to our engineers' productivity as we don't need to wait around for answers."

Said David Mason, managing director of Altair UK: "Our tools and unique licensing system offer consultancies the flexibility they need to compete in an increasingly competitive market. By maintaining our open architecture philosophy and our determination to supply excellent return on investment across all our products and services, we expect to see more consultancy companies in the UK turning to HyperWorks."

More at www.vectayn.com, www.altair.com, www.altairhyperworks.com or www.hyperworkscommunity.com.

(c) 2010, WWJ Newsradio 950. All rights reserved.