Demonstrating ROI of FEA
Demonstrating ROI of FEA
(OP)
I lead a CAE group which supports a large engineering
organization. Managers in the organization often suggest
that I develop a means for demonstrating the ROI, or the
cost and time savings, for FEA or other engineering
analysis projects that my group completes. When I ask
customers about the cost and time savings, they often
reply that they are unable to make such an estimate.
I imagine that many of you working in FEA have encountered
questions about the value of your work. How do you
quantify the cost and time savings? Are there any
existing standard methods for doing so? Any suggestions
and/or references would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
EMS
organization. Managers in the organization often suggest
that I develop a means for demonstrating the ROI, or the
cost and time savings, for FEA or other engineering
analysis projects that my group completes. When I ask
customers about the cost and time savings, they often
reply that they are unable to make such an estimate.
I imagine that many of you working in FEA have encountered
questions about the value of your work. How do you
quantify the cost and time savings? Are there any
existing standard methods for doing so? Any suggestions
and/or references would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
EMS





RE: Demonstrating ROI of FEA
In our case FEA has the following benefits:
well integrated with CAD
reduced numbers of prototypes
reduced testing of prototypes
some forms of analysis are practical with FEA that were impossible beforehand, ie a step function change in capability
and disadvantages
needs a lot of component level testing
more complex testing of prototypes for correlation
replaced experienced engineers and designers with wet behind the ears analysts
Cheers
Greg Locock
RE: Demonstrating ROI of FEA
The cost benefit of using finite elements can depend on what you use it for. If it's for assessing 'what-if' type scenarios then the benefit can be enormous in saving the cost of building prototypes and trying to measure your results. If you use it for failure assessment then, again, it is of obvious benefit in raising your understanding of the failure mechanism and using that knowledge for either future designs or the best method of repair. If it's to assess a design so that you get a nice colour picture to impress your boss, then it's probably a waste of money.
Having the ability to use modelling techniques in a company is of benefit in giving your customer greater confidence in your design and hence the potential for more orders.
Evaluating each of the cost benefits mentioned is practically impossible though. Employ an accountant to work it out, preferably one that has a good imagination and one that doesn't use acronyms.
corus
RE: Demonstrating ROI of FEA
1. assigned one engineer to do the analysis and then recorded the number of hours from begining to end + also calculated the actual cost for the software & hardware to get the analysis done.
2. visited with the design project manager and he gave me how much would it cost to design and prototype the same part.
3. visited with the test dept and they gave me how many test engineers and how long would it take to do the test
I then had the cost of doing analysis versus doing test for the same components.
I followed same procedure for two analysis projects. I then took the average and use that figure to estimate the average cost avoidance per day per analyst. I then used this figure to justify hardware, software, and manpower.
Never again has the value of FEA has been questioned in our division.
good luck.
RE: Demonstrating ROI of FEA
There is some information on how to calculate and use ROI in the article Guidelines for FEA shoppers from Machine Design Magazine.
Best regards,
Matthew Ian Loew
"Luck is the residue of design."
Branch Rickey
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