About IDAJ
Support engineering process reform through cutting-edge MBD and CAE technologies and integrated solutions.
October 1, 2024
News Release: Changes of President and Chief Executive Officer (PDF/112KB)
Engineering processes are facing inevitable huge changes that stem from diversity management, BCP measures, changing demographic of the workforce, inheritance of technologies, and so on.
Among various technologies required in this period of change, IDAJ offers solutions from two technological aspects.
The first solution is digital engineering technologies where computer-based 3D design (CAD), engineering simulation (CAE), and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) are put to full use.
The traditional design and development process relies on a repeated cycle of design and prototype creation as well as a lot of trial and error. The introduction of digital engineering technology makes it possible to analyze and predict the performance of a product in advance by using virtual products modeling technology, improving the functionality of the product. At the same time, the amount of trial and error, which is often required after the design and development phase, is dramatically reduced, shortening the development period and saving cost. This effect has also brought opportunities to manufacture products with added values.
Among these three digital engineering technologies, performance and reliability analysis performed with CAE (Computer Aided Engineering) plays the most important role. Technologies that use virtual products to evaluate a wide range of designs in complicated physical phenomena, such as aerodynamic performance, intensity, fracture, electromagnetic field, acoustic noise, combustion efficiency, thermal management design for electronic devices, and exploration of an optimum design satisfying contradictory performance requirements, have been developed and are already used in various industrial sectors. In addition, AI technology, which supports CAE technology and will possibly serve as a complement to CAE's role, is also under development. An attempt to use AI as a fast CAE model has begun, where CAE provides AI with the massive data to be learned, indicating its potential of becoming technological innovation.
The second solution is a model-based development (MBD) process methodology where models (system models and CAE models) once used as a substitute for prototypes or evaluations are, thanks to the evolving digital environment, now applied to the entire engineering process from concept design to manufacture and service. The MBD process was originally introduced as a method for control software development. Its application to the entire design and development process is now considered as a key to changing the existing engineering process.
Using simulation modeling at various levels of details as an "active specification" from upstream through downstream of the design and development process makes it possible to evaluate the virtual product overall performance and feasibility and to clarify design goals to be assigned to each system and subsystem. If the performance needs to be reviewed, the MBD process helps you identify causes and necessary measures at an early stage, realizing the efficient design and development process. An environment such as this enables high-level collaboration engineering between different organizations and departments and has the potential for vastly improving the companies' product development ability and competitiveness.
For control software development where use of the MBD process started earlier, it is necessary to efficiently and properly respond to ever-more complicated development requirements through the development platform involved with strict functional safety standards and established traceability.
We find real value in solving customers' problems by providing appropriate integrated solutions based on deep understanding of the customer's product design and development engineering process and technologies. The MBD process that fully utilizes digital engineering technologies is effective to achieve our goal of solving customers' problems, and the CAE technology enabling simulations of all kinds of complicated physical phenomena is the core technology to the MBD process. As a conclusion, the following three points are essential to digital engineering used for engineering processes:
- Product performance needs to be evaluated by using multiple digital engineering technologies, including CAE simulation technology (used for simulations of a wide range of physics disciplines, such as structure, mechanism, thermal, fluid, acoustics, and control), 1D analysis, 3D analysis, and a software development platform.
- The following must be prepared: validation technology to improve simulation accuracy, engineering technology to apply AI technologies, and the software development platform involved with functional safety standards.
- CAE needs to be seamlessly embedded in a digital engineering e for hardware and software designs, and its "models" needs to be utilized as an "active specification" across the entire design and development process.