Demonstrating ROI of FEA 2

[ems44]

I lead a CAE group which supports a large engineering
organization. Managers in the organization often suggest
that I develop a means for demonstrating the ROI, or the
cost and time savings, for FEA or other engineering
analysis projects that my group completes. When I ask
customers about the cost and time savings, they often
reply that they are unable to make such an estimate.

I imagine that many of you working in FEA have encountered
questions about the value of your work. How do you
quantify the cost and time savings? Are there any
existing standard methods for doing so? Any suggestions
and/or references would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks,

EMS

 

[GregLocock]

Why not bounce the question back to them and ask how they justified investing in FEA if they didn't know the costs involved? Then pick up and modify the financial model used to justify the original decision. Sounds like they are trying to get you to do their job.

In our case FEA has the following benefits:

well integrated with CAD
reduced numbers of prototypes
reduced testing of prototypes
some forms of analysis are practical with FEA that were impossible beforehand, ie a step function change in capability


and disadvantages

needs a lot of component level testing
more complex testing of prototypes for correlation
replaced experienced engineers and designers with wet behind the ears analysts


Cheers

Greg Locock

 

[corus]

Finite Element analysis is a little like acronyms. At first sight their use seems to be time saving and hence of cost benefit but can in fact lead to more time being wasted trying to figure out what they actually mean.

The cost benefit of using finite elements can depend on what you use it for. If it's for assessing 'what-if' type scenarios then the benefit can be enormous in saving the cost of building prototypes and trying to measure your results. If you use it for failure assessment then, again, it is of obvious benefit in raising your understanding of the failure mechanism and using that knowledge for either future designs or the best method of repair. If it's to assess a design so that you get a nice colour picture to impress your boss, then it's probably a waste of money.

Having the ability to use modelling techniques in a company is of benefit in giving your customer greater confidence in your design and hence the potential for more orders.

Evaluating each of the cost benefits mentioned is practically impossible though. Employ an accountant to work it out, preferably one that has a good imagination and one that doesn't use acronyms.

corus

 

[nazariosr]

I was asked a similar question a long time ago and here is how I did it while being the supervisor of the analysis dept.

1. assigned one engineer to do the analysis and then recorded the number of hours from begining to end + also calculated the actual cost for the software & hardware to get the analysis done.

2. visited with the design project manager and he gave me how much would it cost to design and prototype the same part.

3. visited with the test dept and they gave me how many test engineers and how long would it take to do the test

I then had the cost of doing analysis versus doing test for the same components.

I followed same procedure for two analysis projects. I then took the average and use that figure to estimate the average cost avoidance per day per analyst. I then used this figure to justify hardware, software, and manpower.

Never again has the value of FEA has been questioned in our division.

good luck.

 

[mloew]

EMS,

There is some information on how to calculate and use ROI in the article Guidelines for FEA shoppers from Machine Design Magazine.

Best regards,

Matthew Ian Loew
"Luck is the residue of design."
Branch Rickey

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