Why Outsource Finite Element Analysis? 5 Reasons to Outsource FEA Consulting

Finite Element Analysis (FEA) is an irreplaceable analysis tool in today’s design process.  In the last five to ten years, FEA has emerged as the go-to method to interrogate, test, and perfect designs before physical prototyping.  Recent advances in computer technology makes FEA significantly more accessible to smaller engineering firms and manufacturing organizations. Despite this, Engineering Managers are still faced with a decision to either take the plunge and build an in-house FEA capability or minimize risk, and reduce O&M costs by outsourcing to an FEA Consultant.

The cost of an in-house FEA capability is far more than an initial software purchase. There are additional expenses associated with hardware, operation, licensing, training, staff compensation, utilization and validation. The annual cost of ownership associated with in-house capability can easily exceed the costs of hiring a FEA Consultant for short-term individual projects. With this in mind, we’ve compiled a list of 5 reasons to consider outsourcing Finite Element Analysis Consulting

1. SOFTWARE

Software licensing is expensive to obtain and maintain.  A single entry-level ‘seat’ license for FEA software can range from the thousands to tens-of-thousands of dollars.  There are significant maintenance costs to receive updates and technical support. Each license typically includes restrictions on the number of program instances and even limit the number and type of cpu cores that can be used for a solve operation. If you want to solve things faster, you’ll have to pay extra for it!

2. TRAINING

Having the best software and fastest hardware gets you nowhere unless you have people with the skills to make effective use of them.  Building experience with FEA and learning the nuances of the software packages can have an immense impact on the efficacy of your simulations. Defining a proper simulation can be somewhat of an art form; high resolution models can give more accurate results but take exponentially longer to run.  Setting resolutions too small yields fast run times but can lead to a “garbage in, garbage out” scenario.  Finding a balance through a blend of knowledge, understanding, and experience will produce the best results in the shortest time frame.  It takes time and effort (e.g. O&M costs and decreased productivity) to build competency and capability.

3. STAFF RETENTION

Investing in human assets can be a bit of a gamble at times. The more qualified a staff member is, the greater a chance they might get headhunted by another organization, taking their skills, and your training investment, along with them. During quiet times this is a bit of downtime while you look for a replacement or trainee, but during a crunch this is a nightmare of delays and project management chaos.  Adequate compensation is a good start, but cost of retaining well-trained staff is an additional O&M line item not often associated with the cost of a robust in-house program.

4. UTILIZATION

Once your staff is fully trained and using a proper workstation, you’ll want to keep them tasked with FEA work in order to justify their additional and cost on the O&M budget.  Unfortunately, there will be times when this won’t be possible; at times all licenses will be in-use, at other times there won’t be simulations to run.  The more you can use FEA the more affordable it becomes, but the opposite is also true: if FEA is something used sporadically or intermittently, the associated costs rise.  In addition, trained FEA users can become ‘rusty’ in a few months, and are more liable to make mistakes and oversights that can lead to extended simulation times and unproductive results. At worst, you might generate simulations that look good, but don’t accurately reflect reality; invalid GARBAGE! 

5. Hardware

To make the most of your FEA license, you’ll want to use modern hardware. Computer technology has steadily advanced in the past few decades, becoming faster with each new generation.  A high-performance computer is more than just a fast processor; it’s a combination of equally high-performance components chosen to maximize synergy and minimize the bottlenecks.  Some hardware choices are determined by the software you’re expecting to use; graphics cards, for example, might be able to accelerate the solve process, but not all cards are compatible.  Additionally, professional or enterprise grade hardware may be necessary in some cases where results are exceedingly large, complex, or sensitive to error.  Without investing in computer hardware, you’ll be left sitting with an expensive paperweight crippled by extremely long run times.

FEA Consultant vs Outsource FEA.

These five bullet points highlight some reasons to outsource Finite Element Analysis Consulting instead of developing an in-house capability.  Intermittent users of FEA software are faced by high startup costs, and annual O&M costs associated with software maintenance, training, and staff compensation. These O&M costs can quickly offset the savings of an-house capability that is only utilized periodically.  

In addition to O&M cost savings detailed above, XCEED’s FEA consultants offer several advantages over an in-house FEA capability. Advantages of partnering with FEA Consultant include:

1. Integrated Design: Our integrated CADD and FEA packages permit our FEA consultants to quickly adopt design changes, evaluate, and report results back to the project team.
2. Additional Capabilities: FEA consultants maintain top-tier software packages, and can cost-effectively expand design analyses from simple static/structural to more complex non-linear/transient and optimization analyses.  This is essential for determining structural robustness, e.g. drop tests.
3. Supplement and Scalability: FEA licenses are seat specific, and tied up during runs. This prevents simultaneous problem solving without procuring additional software licenses. Outside FEA consultants with independent licenses are scalable and can augment parallel analysis.
4. Dedicated Resources: XCEED dedicates an experienced FEA Consultant and software to your project.  Our outside resources are not subject to internal resource conflicts and commitments associated with other projects.
5. Broad Experience Base: FEA consultants draw from experiences evaluating a breadth of structures and systems comprised of a variety of materials.  This accumulated experience is essential to optimize structural models, validate results and aid in design refinements.
6. The Cost of Wrong Results: In-house design orgniztions may have only one or two in-house FEA analysts.  In competitive markets these users can become siloed and may not have access to an independent reviews or draw from outside experience. Modeling errors and nonconservative assumptions can lead to inaccurate results and expensive re-work!

We’re Here To Help!

At XCEED, our FEA consultants have over 20 years of combined experience solving some of the toughest problems in the world. We pioneered using FEA as a cost savings tool. On one project alone, we saved $8.8M using tools like FEA and CFD to predict structural response and eliminate over-conservative assumptions (e.g. reduce material costs).

Our firm is one of the only licensed FEA consulting firms in the country. This means that our FEA consultants couple their analytical ability with understanding of relevant codes and standards. They undergo constant training to make sure their skills are on the cutting edge

If you have any questions regarding FEA, please call us at 585-340-7277. Our FEA consultants are ready to help 24 hours a day, 7 days per week. You can also email us at info@xceed-eng.com, or use the contact us form at the side of this page