Our QA blog series looks at different members of our team, their passion, 3D CAD specializations and a piece of content they’ve developed. This month’s QA features Sam Skinner and SOLIDWORKS Simulation.

Meet Sam Skinner

1. Describe your role at TriMech and your professional background in engineering?
I have a diverse role at as an engineer at TriMech, however, I spend the majority of my time working directly with our clients. Part of my job involves assessing a company’s current practices and identifying areas where TriMech can add value. This provides the benefit to make them profitable through the services and software solutions we provide. I also teach engineering courses on FEA, CFD, and PCB design that are designed to not only instruct users on how to use the software, but also reinforce specific concepts to produce better designers and engineers. 

2. What area of work are you most passionate about and why?
I really enjoy technology and being on the front-end of innovation. Over the years, I have seen how the advancements in analytical tools like SOLIDWORKS Simulation and SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation have transformed the way products are developed. We no longer simply validate a design at the end of the development process with simulation. To the contrary, we use simulation to drive the direction of a design from very early in the development cycle. This takes some of the guesswork out of design, aids in innovation, and gives us the ability to identify potential performance problems at a time when changes are easier to make. 

Simulation Experience

3. What is your favorite thing about SOLIDWORKS Simulation?
My favorite thing about SOLIDWORKS Simulation is how it is seamlessly integrated into the SOLIDWORKS CAD platform. The integration and ease of use puts a very powerful analytical tool in the hands of almost any designer or engineer. I love that you can perform advanced simulations, obtain highly accurate results all for a fraction of the cost of other platforms

4. Can you explain what competitive advantages SOLIDWORKS Simulation offers to clients’ workflows?
SOLIDWORKS Simulation gives clients the ability to virtually test designs under many different conditions early in the design process. The intuitive environment puts power FEA tools at the fingertips of any SOLIDWORKS user. This gives them the advantage of producing better quality products, finding problems early, cutting costs and getting projects out the door faster.

5. What is your favorite accomplishment, experience, story about SOLIDWORKS Simulation?
Though I have plenty of personal projects I could highlight, I love hearing stories of how customers I’ve trained in the SOLIDWORKS suite of simulation tools are using the software to solve problems, develop better products and transform their engineering processes.

6. How does SOLIDWORKS Simulation impact your work, the industry or other 3DP/CAD technology? Where do you anticipate it going from here?
Simulation allows me and other users to virtually test designs before the first part is ever manufactured. This has an immediate and direct impact on the quality, safety, and performance of a customer’s design. Whether you are running a thermal analysis on a missile or performing a drop test on an iPhone, analytical tools like SOLIDWORKS Simulation & Flow Simulation reduce prototyping and greatly compress the design cycle.

I see the SOLIDWORKS suite of simulation tools becoming an ever more integral part of the engineer’s day-to-day work. Analysis will become as common as sketching parts. With the advent of additive manufacturing, the constraints traditional manufacturing methods placed on designer are being removed. New capabilities like “Shape Optimization” in SOLIDWORKS Simulation can be used to intelligently and automatically generate the most optimal geometry of a part accounting for multiple failure criteria all while reducing weight, and cost of production. Design, simulation, and manufacturing are becoming ever more integrated and the future is here!

For more information on SOLIDWORKS Simulation and it’s accuracy, download Sam Skinner’s white paper!