At Dieffenbacher, a comprehensive toolbox has been developed for the established Ansys Mechanical simulation solution, which automates many recurring calculation steps. Marco Trusheim, a computational engineer at Dieffenbacher, describes in an interview how it came about, the advantages of the toolbox and why it is important to anchor it in Ansys Minerva for simulation process and data management (SPDM).

Marc Vidal: Mr. Trusheim, you use Ansys Mechanical for structural-mechanical simulations at Dieffenbacher. In addition to this, there is a toolbox that you developed in-house. Can you briefly explain what this is?

Marco Trusheim: We carry out many simulations during our development work, especially on structural-mechanical issues. With the huge number of recurring tasks, it was obvious that we should make greater use of the power of automation to simplify workflows through standardization, reduce the potential for errors, and ensure the traceability and transparency of processes. We have done just that: the parameters and boundary conditions that hardly change but repeatedly need to be taken into account are stored in the toolbox. These include temperature, pressure, material and corrosion. This saves our engineers an enormous amount of time, allowing them to concentrate fully on more complex aspects of calculation and design. Data handling is also easier and more consistent.

What triggered the decision to actually implement such automation and create the toolbox?

Marco Trusheim: The inspiration for our toolbox came from a former colleague. He always had a penchant for programming and the potential it offered for simplifying processes. He also had a great deal of Ansys expertise. Participating in a CADFEM training course provided the decisive impetus for the project – when a convincing example from another CADFEM customer, Krones, was presented. It was then that he really realized how far-reaching the customization options in Ansys are and the enormous potential they offer. He acted on the impulse and our toolbox took shape. CADFEM helped us with any questions we had, which always involved a transfer of knowledge to Dieffenbacher. This is how my colleague managed to get our own solution off the ground – a toolbox that is perfectly tailored to our requirements.

Marc Vidal: Can you summarize the advantages of the toolbox for your company?

Marco Trusheim: The toolbox offers a wide range of advantages. Above all, it saves a considerable amount of time. Routine tasks that used to be done manually, such as assigning materials to certain components and defining standard boundary conditions on many surfaces, can be automated and carried out much faster. The toolbox also increases the reliability of the results because it reduces the likelihood of human error, since fewer manual inputs are required. The integration of standard text modules and calculation results also improves the consistency of our technical reports, which in turn increases the quality of our project management. It is also important that it is intuitive and easy to use.

Marc Vidal: How is the toolbox integrated into the development and simulation landscape at Dieffenbacher?

Marco Trusheim: At Dieffenbacher, we have introduced a solution with Ansys Minerva that centrally manages all our simulation processes and data. We benefit enormously from the transparency, timeliness and clarity that this creates. From the outset, we considered that the toolbox would be integrated here. The integration makes it possible to transfer all essential project requirements directly from the order to the toolbox and thus to the calculation model, which highly automates the data entry process and reduces sources of error.