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From construction to agriculture and mining, heavy machine manufacturers face many challenges in product design, manufacture, assembly, and operation. The goal is to deliver safer, cleaner, and more productive equipment ¨C and do so with applying sustainble development practices, within defined budgets and within set lead times.

One of the biggest challenges Heavy Machine OEMs might face is reliably predicting the effectiveness of their products. Most would agree the best way to test their machine is by using the product in the field. Unfortunately, this is impractical; no one can wait until the product is being field-tested to make the engineering decisions that influence product performance. On the other hand, others might argue that testing under intended use conditions is the only way to test the machine¡¯s capabilities. The problem with that approach is that it drastically delays delivery as physical prototypes go through several rounds of improvements, re-engineering, modification, and re-testing. And, of course, delivering a product without any real-world validation of predicted performance isn¡¯t an option.

The question then becomes ¡®what is a happy medium¡¯? In this blog, we will introduce ways that you can ensure delivery of optimally designed, high performing machines while sticking to your budget and delivery times. For a more in-depth look at each of these topics, join us for our upcoming webinar series: Digitalization of the Heavy Industry.

Deliver Safe, Clean, & Productive Machinery

Heavy Machinery must survive, and thrive, under the most rigorous operating conditions, while maintaining operational safety and delivering sustainable performance. Reputations are built upon the performance of products in real operating conditions. OEMs cannot successfully enter new markets or launch new innovative products that are unproven; however, few can afford to invest in prototyping, building, then fully testing each new product they design. But it is often these late-stage ¡°in situ¡±, ¡°in production¡±, or ¡°in service¡± evaluations that highlight key engineering requirements for new products. This means that many aspects of product designs and processes¡ªintended to produce and maintain those products¡ªaren¡¯t validated until late in the product development timeline, leaving little chance to cost-effectively resolve them in design.

Informing the design and engineering decisions required to assure success, without access to a physical product, is a challenge remaining in most companies. As the digitalization of engineering workflows accelerates, the replacement of physical mock-ups and pre-production prototypes with virtual prototypes has magnified potential gaps in product development ¨C namely, the lack of timely physical test experience at product proving grounds to influence and validate early decisions. By introducing Virtual Prototyping for key product and process validations, you can Digitally Transform your product development process and realize a more effective Product Performance Lifecycle. Design for Reality by establishing a Virtual Pilot Assembly Hall, Virtual Proving Ground, and Virtual Service-Maintenance Garage to assess upcoming products; augmenting the too often disconnected, questionably representative, discrete simulations of deterministic analyses common in many enterprises.

Take the power back by designing, testing, and validating your latest products for operational comfort & safety, test the integration of powered systems, evaluate human centric assembly processes, and experience proposed service & maintenance procedures, to ensure you deliver Safe, Clean, and Productive machinery & equipment proven to meet the highest quality requirements and lifetime performance for the toughest usage conditions.

Through ESI¡¯s offerings, you will:

• Identify opportunities & potential gaps as virtual prototyping displaces physical tests
• Validate Operational Comfort & Safety, Durability & Productivity, and Integrity of new products
• Address power- & drive-train challenges for emerging technologies like electrification
• Evaluate operator safety of proposed new products, as well as assembly and service workers
• Improve product return on investment for your enterprise and your customers

Always stay a step ahead of the competition

With these tools in your back pocket, design, validate, build, and maintain the heavy machines you deliver with confidence. Join our webinar series and dig deeper into each of these topics, harvest a clear understanding, and identify the next steps to achieving your goals.

Learn more, and see the value of our VR in action by replaying our webinar series on Human Centric Process Validation & Immersive Product Integration.