Siemens Industry Software

Siemens Industry Software NV (SISW), based in Leuven, Belgium, runs the Simulations and Testing Solutions (STS) business unit of Siemens Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) Software, part of the broader Siemens Digital Factory division. SISW bundles a number of strategic acquisitions of technology leaders in advanced performance engineering for mechanical and mechatronic industries, among which LMS International, spin-off company of the KU Leuven university and respected research partner. By combining the strengths and the decades of experience of all these former companies, SISW can deliver an offering for simulation and testing during product ideation, that is unique in both application width and depth, and is brought to market as the Simcenter™ solutions portfolio.

Stijn Donders, Mike Nicolai and Bram Cornelis, researchers at SISW, explain what sets the company apart, and how publicly-funded projects can influence its R&D and product development roadmap.

Mission-critical performance solutions

SISW's Simcenter™ allows engineers to generate a set of ultra-realistic, multi-physics models and data that can predict real product behaviour during product ideation. These especially cover mission-critical performance aspects such as safety, fuel economy, noise and vibration, structural integrity and lifetime, and are an essential part of the holistic digital twin, the industry paradigm that helps companies face today's challenges with smart designs that combine mechanics with software, electronics, controls and new, lightweight materials. Simcenter customers are mainly in the automotive and aerospace sectors - around 75% - and apart from that, in diverse industries, from wind turbines to mobile phones. In fact, anywhere where mission-critical performance engineering is required.

Unique value proposition

"The power of Simcenter™ is in both the excellence of its individual components and in the synergies that can be achieved by combining them. The included physical testing, multi-disciplinary computer-aided engineering (CAE) and computational fluid dynamics (CFD), as well as the powerful multi-physics system simulation solutions are long-standing industry-leading applications. Simcenter™ merges those elements with robust design exploration and data analytics, which are managed in a product lifecycle management (PLM) context, powered by Teamcenter™. software. The alignment of all these applications helps engineers to be much more effective during development, for example by enabling constant interaction between test and simulation, facilitating multi-physics modelling, including controls, or by allowing the application of operational data at any time. And the close collaboration with Teamcenter™ connects product ideation and product use, paving the pathway for the holistic digital twin," explain the researchers. "On top of that, the parent company Siemens is a manufacturer of many interesting components and machinery as well. Having all this combined expertise in one house, is a unique added value for our customers."

Many automotive examples demonstrate the strength of SISW and Simcenter™. Think of multi-body simulation models that can run in real time and can be connected to a driver simulation. Other examples are generative engineering, where engineers can explore and generate different powertrain architectures for hybrid and electric vehicles; or capabilities for simulating hybrid and electric vehicle noise. "Automotive companies have R&D teams working on design, modelling and optimisation of next-generation vehicles, so they need the right tools to do this efficiently. We offer them user-friendly software tools, helping them to deal with ever-shorter design and production cycles."

SISW is a global organisation with R&D centres throughout Europe, in the US and in India. The solutions the company provides are continuously innovated thanks to substantial investments in R&D. In this context, SISW closely collaborates with major end users, who can reflect on the actual market needs, as well as with leading universities and research centres, who contribute to the development of breakthrough technologies. As part of this strategy, SISW has a policy of hosting visiting students, researchers and experts, many of which pursue mixed industry-academic doctoral degrees.

Programmes like ITEA broaden our horizon in many ways, exposing us to greater diversity in terms of knowledge, culture and business.

Programmes like ITEA broaden our horizon in many ways, exposing us to greater diversity in terms of knowledge, culture and business.

R&D landscape

"Leuven is a very fertile environment for innovation and for finding new value for our customers," explain the SISW researchers. Mike Nicolai, who joined the company after a research career, confirms: "I never expected such an innovation drive in a private company." This innovation drive is very well supported by national and regional funding agencies, as well as programmes like ITEA. The SISW researchers explain: "These are really important instruments for us. Public funding agencies and programmes enable us to undertake high-risk research and develop partnerships - they broaden the horizon for us in many ways, exposing us to greater diversity in terms of knowledge, culture and business. For regional R&D support, VLAIO in Flanders has a range of instruments, from R&D projects between industry and academia, to personal R&D grants. Another personal grant instrument is the Marie Curie programme from the European Commission, which offers a kind of industrial PhD to academic partners with an industry focus. This helps to advance the State-of-the-Art, both in technology and in methods used in the industry."