b'Consumer Goods | Engineer Innovationare doing all the prototyping in awe have an effective process in place virtual way. The main advantage ofto do our job, which is making light using Simcenter 3D is that we quicklyand impact-resistant luggage. get feedback on whether certain components are strong enough, orEven more FEM in futurewhether we can make the structureCheng sees the application of lighter. It helps us to decide where weSimcenter 3D growing in the future. can remove material, and guides us toWe have to increase our where we need to add it. simulation capabilities, she says. More accurate modeling Reducing physical prototyping and boundary conditions Wim De Vos, Project Manager atalong with the execution Samsonite, confirms that the amountof dynamic simulations of physical prototyping has beenwill help us create even dramatically reduced since thebetter suitcases.company implemented Simcenter 3D. The main benefit is significant timeCheng also highlights another savings. In the past we went straightimportant aspect that makes from the design table to creating aSamsonite walk further down the physical prototype, which we thensimulation path. Simulation will be tested, says De Vos. That processcrucial to innovate our products, she took us about 16 weeks, and wesays. We collaborate with universities werent even sure if the suitcase wouldto do research on composites. Doing be as strong as expected. Simcenterfinite element analysis using Simcenter 3D allows us to do upfront simulations,3D is required to prove that we are reassuring us that the prototype willserious about it, and to get funding. be okay from the first time, avoidingThanks to using FEM, we could several loops. produce our self-reinforced polypropylene luggage, which is the Simcenter 3D helps us dramaticallylightest on the market. This has been reduce product cost and lead time,an enormous success. We are very while increasing quality, says Cheng.determined to continue working on Its hard to quantify this, as we arethis, and further optimize our materials annually busy with more than tento keep our number one position. nprojects on different scales, from makeovers of existing products to creating completely new ones. But since we started using Simcenter 3D,The main advantage of using Simcenter 3D is that we quickly get feedback on whether certain components are strong enough, or whether we can make the structure lighter. It helps us to decide where we can remove material, and guides us to where we need to add it.Gilles Vanneste 3D Engineer Samsonite11'