Best-in-class manufacturers are 21% more likely to use simulation in design than their competitors. Do they know something about simulation you don’t? Like most things, it depends on your situation. Find out whether you should be designing with simulation, or not, by taking this short quiz.

True or false: I live in a world without deadlines.

If your answer is TRUE: Congratulations, and please send the rest of us a Google map to your planet.

If your answer is FALSE: Using simulation during your design process will allow you to work faster and smarter. When you use simulation from the beginning of your design process, you can apply static and dynamic loads to your 3D model as well as do standard CAE analyses, like linear static, modal, buckling, contact and steady state thermal to see how it will perform in real life.

When you find performance issues early in your design process, you buy yourself time--maybe a lot of it. According to the CEO and director of engineering of German auto engineering company Kontec GmbH, by using design in simulation his company has “been able to achieve at least 40% time savings for our design projects.”

How much easier would it be for you to meet or even crush ridiculous deadlines when you can save 40% of the time it takes to finish a project?

True or false: Rework is more fun than anything else I do at work.

If your answer is TRUE: You are the kind of perfectionist who never completes anything because you always think your work can be better. This is an admirable sentiment, but it’s ultimately unproductive. Try meditation.

If your answer is FALSE: Simulation eliminates 30% or more of rework, according to engineers who are using it as they design. It’s one reason why simulation helps them save so much time. You can start using simulation in the concept design stage, and then do a more detailed analysis of your design later on in the process. Isn’t life easier when you can get your design right sooner rather than later?

True or False: I don’t need to know how my product will perform in the real world.

If your answer is TRUE: You are not actually an engineer. Your entire life is an elaborate reality show that everyone but you knows about. Two billion people are watching you read this right now.

If your answer is FALSE: If you are like most engineers, you deal with multiple competing pressures: you have to design something that works, that isn’t too expensive to make, and that has to be done on a specific timeline. That’s a lot to navigate. Simulation in design makes it much easier.

When you design with simulation, you can tell not just whether your product will work under specific conditions, but whether it will work as well with different materials. You can compare different iterations of your design to each other to find out which one comes out on top. And you can do that without having to take the time to build prototypes to test.

You’ll also generate documentation for your 3D model that the rest of your team can use as you move your product through design, analysis, prototyping, and production. Wouldn’t that be handy to have?

True or false: I love when someone else finds my design errors before I do.

If your answer is TRUE: Trick question. No engineer would ever say this is true.

If your answer is FALSE: There will probably always be a need for the analysis step in the design process, and it’s true that analysts have a kind of expertise that not all engineers share. But you don’t have to be an expert in analysis to find some of the problems they’ll pinpoint for you. Modern simulation tools are built to work with the engineering programs you already use, so the learning curve isn’t as steep as you might think.

How did you do?

If you answered TRUE to all of the questions, are you sure you’re a real person? Maybe we should have started the quiz with a CAPTCHA to make sure you’re not a robot.

If you answered FALSE to one or more questions, you’re ready to explore simulation. We recommend that you download our free e-book Better Design with Simulation. The few minutes you take to read it might end up saving you and your company a lot of time, materials, and money. Where are you going to find a better deal than that?