Ansys Minerva Software Helps Dieffenbacher Streamline Data Management

“Without a team of experts like those at CADFEM, such an introduction is difficult. Going live quickly and following an agile approach has proven to be the best way to make progress.” 

- Dr. Dino Magagnato, Project Lead, Minerva Implementation, Dieffenbacher

Development cycles at Dieffenbacher are becoming increasingly shorter, and the company has to react flexibly to changing customer requirements. A modern, integrated system that optimizes simulation data management as well as communication and coordination between departments is essential for this. Dieffenbacher also wanted to ensure that decisions made on the basis of simulation results can be reliably tracked at any time, even after the project has been completed. This makes it easy to react to project changes and maintain an overview. In addition, the knowledge contained in the simulation data remains available even if colleagues are absent or leave the company.

In summary, Dieffenbacher was faced with the following tasks:

• The manual effort in data management needed to be reduced and data quality increased.
• End-to-end data transparency between design and simulation needed to be ensured.
• The traceability of decisions needed to be improved and approval processes simplified.

Engineering Solutions 

Dieffenbacher met these challenges with the introduction of Minerva software, a modern solution for simulation process and data management (SPDM). With CADFEM as a partner, the project was carried out in a structured manner, and insights and adjustments were identified and implemented in close dialog.

The tool was implemented in several phases. A proof of concept was followed by a two-month pilot phase from February-April 2023 to prepare for the productive use of Minerva software. This involved consolidating the CAE processes and adapting the configurations.

Thanks to the structured approach, Minerva went live very quickly and has been in use since April 2023. As the implementation took place parallel to ongoing operations, important findings from day-to-day work could be incorporated directly. Individual adjustments continue to be made and successively incorporated in an agile approach together with CADFEM, such as filtering dashboards and email notifications according to relevance for engineers at Dieffenbacher.

Benefits

With Minerva software, users benefit from a structured and intuitive search that also facilitates the reuse of information from previous projects. The long-term archiving of FE projects becomes more secure and traceable at all times. The integration of automation speeds up recurring calculations by automatically transferring inputs from the simulation task to the calculation model as boundary conditions. This eliminates manual steps and increases reliability by eliminating possible transfer errors.

These time savings and efficiency gains ensure a rapid return on investment (ROI). Employees are freed up for more demanding tasks, and less time is spent on manual processes. In the run-up to the project, Dieffenbacher conducted an informal survey on the time spent on administrative activities in the simulation projects. On this basis, the company determined the potential savings that could be made by using Minerva software. The result: The investment pays for itself within the first year.

The tool also improves the exchange of information and creates transparency. This simplifies communication between engineers, designers and managers. Mutual understanding of each other's work increases and joint decision-making is supported. Moreover, management is able to track and control projects more efficiently, making project planning more effective. Overall, Dieffenbacher has benefited from a significant increase in productivity, quality, and a stronger basis for future innovation projects.