Last week, solidThinking team members had the pleasure of joining over 450 attendees at the 2010 HyperWorks Technology Conference (HTC) in Novi, Michigan, April 27-29.
The annual three-day conference is part of the HyperWorks Technology Conference Global Series put on by our parent company, Altair, and offers sessions on advancements in simulation-driven design practices, design optimization, data management, process automation, cloud computing and decision support systems.
Attendees have access to an extensive PLM technology exhibition, including solidThinking. I had the opportunity to speak during day one of the conference among leaders including Altair founder and CEO Jim Scapa; HyperWorks CTO Dr. Uwe Schramm; Ford Motor Company Vice President of Engineering for Global Product Development Paul Mascarenas; and Porsche General Manager – Virtual Vehicle Christoph Guembel. I was joined onstage by solidThinking Industrial Designer and Product Specialist Darren Chilton, who also later provided a product demo to Jeff Rowe of MCADCafe at the solidThinking exhibition booth.
There was positive dialogue and enthusiasm expressed throughout the conference from attendees, Altair representatives, partners and exhibitors, and we were impressed to present to a standing-room only audience as we shared the benefits of conceptual design technology on product development. We discussed “Getting the Right Design, Getting the Design Right,” focusing on ways industrial designers can leverage advancements in modeling and rendering technologies to enhance the entire product development cycle, including:
1. Exploring more design alternatives and identifying winning designs sooner
2. Considering efficient forms early in the concept phase
3. Managing modifications and improving collaboration with engineering
4. Using rendering for interactive design review and validation
Overall, the HTC provided us with a setting where we could contribute our knowledge and user feedback to a wide audience and share it across many industries. Congratulations to Altair on a successful conference. The HTC Global Series moves now to Japan (June), India (August) and Europe (October).
