b'Marine | Engineer Innovationdifferent aspects of a products design to find the most effective solution. Reducing development costsand prototyping cyclesBy properly utilizing computer-aided design (CAD) softwaresuch as with Brabants use of Siemens NX softwareBrabant Engineering uses the powerful and flexible capabilities of NX CAD to drastically reduce the cost and time it takes to design such innovative products. The combination of NX CAD for design and Simcenter 3D for performance prediction help to accelerate product to market efficiently. Rikkert Gerits, project leader at Brabant Engineering, confirmed that using Simcenter 3Dthe necessary tools to rapidlydramatically reduced the amount ofre-engineer and explore the physical prototyping necessary. performance of new designs. Rikkert explained how these simulation systemsUsing 3D simulation tools, we dontalso allow for a speedy virtual-have to build an actual prototype, whichprototyping phase. By simulating the saves us considerable time and money,product in real time, users can more says Gerits. accurately predict product durability under certain conditions. This provides CAD systems offer users the ability tocompanies with significant cost and easily interchange various producttime savings when compared with components. CAD and computer-aideddesigning, producing, testing and engineering (CAE) systems also providerecording data of a physical prototype. 19'