In this digital world, it may be hard for some to believe that there’s still a place for anything manual or physical – especially in the engineering realm. And, while it’s true that today’s technologies have cut into the dependence on physical testing, real-world data remains the lifeblood of the product lifecycle.

From product design to troubleshooting in-service equipment, next generation product planning, and all phases in between, testing remains critical to the design, manufacture, quality, performance, and evolution of virtually all products.

New Product Development

For centuries the process to create or enhance a product consisted of building and testing a long series of prototypes. This build it/test it/break it approach was generally repeated until a satisfactory design was identified. While effective, the process was both costly and time consuming — with these factors often limiting innovation.

Since the late 1960s technologies such as Computer-Aided Design (CAD), Computer-Aided Engineering (CAE), and simulation, have continually evolved to lessen the dependence on physical prototype testing and thus shorten development cycles. These tools allow 3D representative digital models to be created and analyzed for manufacturability, performance, durability, and reliability at component, sub-assembly, assembly, and product levels.

Read the article here in Power & Motion Magazine.