Hi All,
Let me start by saying I know there will not be a "yes" or "no" type answer for these questions, and that the outcome will be to some degree situational. That being said, I am considering purchasing a license of SW Sim Pro and am hoping to get some feedback from current users regarding the profitability of such a purcahse. Here is my situation:
- I am a mechanical engineer working predominantly on product design (anything from iPhone cases to solar power equipment to medical devices).
- Many of my projects benefit from at least low level FEA (some of which can be accomplished with Simulation Xpress, included in the core version of SW), but increasingly I am finding the need for more sophisticated simulation capabilities
- Most of my sim needs are mechanical in nature, but I occasionally run across the need for thermal simulation
- I work for myself and have leveraged my engineering rate about as far as it can go; at this point (short of hiring employees and leveraging additional manpower) the only way to increase my margin is to offer a service for which I can bill higher rates - I am hoping Simulation Pro will allow me to do this
Here are some of the questions I have. Any advice or experience you can share would be greatly apprecaited
- Have you found you can bill higher rates when doing mechanical or thermal simulation work (not flow, I wouldn't have this in Sim Pro) than product design work?
- What rates are reasonable for the types of simulation work listed in the previous bullet?
- Have you encountered resistance from customers due to the perception that SW simulation is perhaps less powerful/capable than others such as ANSYS or Abacus?
- What ways have you found to optimize the Simulation software's capability to pay for itself?
- Anything else I should be considering as far as whether or not I can justify the price of the software against the simulation work I hope to receive?
Thanks so much for taking the time to read through this!
Aaron
I'm guessing the reason there have not been comments on this posting is that the majority of folks in this forum are engineers working for a boss, and the boss is the one that can answer profitability questions, not the engineer. That being the case, perhaps I can get some comments on a different question: Is most of the simulation work you do for internal projects? Or is it dedicated simulation work that has been specifically outsourced to your company?
Another question: What modules do you use most frequently? Static structural analysis? Thermal? Drop testing? Vibration? Other?
Thanks in advance.