Designing Within the New Norm

Remote working has historically posed a significant challenge for manufacturers, with many of its tools and processes being rooted in old-fashioned workflows. However, the ongoing global pandemic has turned the tables forcing today’s manufacturers to think fast, leveraging agility and flexibility to enable them to continue to operation.

Computer-Aided Engineering (CAE) simulation software and services provider, MSC Software, is removing legal barriers to provide its customers with free offline licensing and remote access options to help companies maintain productivity levels while working from home.

The goal is to enable business continuity so manufacturers can continue to design, engineer and perform virtual testing outside their place of work, explains MSC Software Chief Customer Engagement Officer Roger Assaker. “We are facilitating the access to our software, knowledge base and support to enable the creation of even more value with our tools, helping companies to maintain productivity and innovation when many manufacturing lines are down,” he says.

Thus far, MSC has seen a dramatic increase in the demand for e-learning programming and remote software licensing– nearly 500 users in the past month. “This not only shows that this measure is needed now, but also suggests that the appetite for more flexible use of CAE software could be sustained after the COVID-19 pandemic has passed,” he says.

“The current situation is providing customers an opportunity to learn things that they always wanted to learn, but had not had a chance to do,” Assaker tells IndustryWeek. “It is encouraging to see customers taking time to learn the tools on some of our newer, innovative offerings.”

According to Assaker, the response to the free e-learning offer has been quite diverse, both geographically and by industry. A look at the numbers shows that 49 percent of the users taking advantage of the opportunity are in EMEA, 31 percent in Asia and 21 percent are from the Americas. The top two industries leveraging e-learning are automotive (29 percent) and Aerospace (20 percent).

Looking ahead, companies will be thinking about how they work: travelling versus online or working from the office versus working from home, explains Assaker. “Some more traditional manufacturers will certainly discover that designers can still be productive from home. This will prompt companies to adapt and in many cases be more flexible,” he says. “We appreciate that these are very challenging times for many of our customers, and we can guarantee that we will be supporting them to the best of our ability, every step of the way.”