Home > About Granta > History

History

Granta Design originates from the collaboration begun in 1986 between Ashby and Cebon on computer-aided teaching of materials selection at Cambridge University. The company was formally incorporated in 1994 and initially focused on selling its Cambridge Materials Selector (CMS) product into university education.

Granta's record of technology firsts includes:

• inventor of the Ashby chart method
  
  
• pioneer of materials performance indices
  
  
• first systematic materials selector software
  
  
• first manufacturing process selector
  
  
• unique materials data checking and estimation procedures
  
  
• an integrated materials database and information management system to support the entire materials data lifecycle
  
  
• materials strategy software based on the concept of optimizing cost per unit of function

Today's Granta serves two distinct, though related, markets - engineering education and engineering enterprises.

Commercial firsts

Granta began to provide industrial solutions through the development of the Cambridge Engineering Selector. CES, launched in 1999, built on Granta's selection technology to offer a solution for commercial organizations, including customizability, web integration, and a materials database system.

Granta strengthened its management by appointing experienced entrepreneur, Patrick Coulter, as Chief Operating Officer in May 1999, and strengthened its partnering and capital base in May 2000 through a collaborative and investment agreement with ASM International, the world’s largest professional society for materials engineering (this agreement was extended in 2006).

2002 saw the launch of CES4 – the first system ever to offer such a multi-faceted approach to the problem of materials data management. This developed into today's CES Selector family with the addition of two innovative products in 2003 and 2004 – CES Polymer Selector for rational selection of thermoplastic materials, and CES EcoSelector for environmentally-conscious materials selection and eco-design research.

A customer-centric approach

As our partnership with industry grew, Granta identified more and more unmet requirements for dealing with wider issues of materials information management in engineering enterprises.

In 2002, in collaboration with ASM and NASA Glenn Research Center, Granta established the Material Data Management Consortium (MDMC) for US corporations and government agencies in the aerospace and defense sector. The objective of the MDMC, which has now widened its membership to international organizations, is to increase its members’ return on investment in materials R&D through improved materials data management. The MDMC helps Granta to develop tools that industrial customers need.

Introducing GRANTA MI

The main result of this process has been GRANTA MI, an integrated and comprehensive materials information management system. GRANTA MI was launched in 2005 and is now the leading materials database system for top engineering organizations and materials producers worldwide.

Granta has also developed partnerships with key engineering software vendors (such as ANSYS, SIMULIA, PTC, Siemens PLM) and with leading providers of materials data (e.g., MMPDS, ESDU, ASME, CAMPUS, and IDES). Together with our own internal development work, these allow us to complement and support our GRANTA MI and CES Selector tools with access to a comprehensive library of materials reference data. Granta data modules cover materials used in areas including aerospace, energy, plastics, and medical devices.

The combination of GRANTA MI, CES Selectors, and materials reference data, together with Granta services, means that Granta now provides a complete range of materials information solutions, helping our customers to:

• Get their materials information under control and access it efficiently in complex, multi-user environments. (More on this solution area...)
  
  
• Manage materials data from the test lab through to the engineer's desktop. We help organizations to capture this data, analyze it, and deploy it to users - including integration with PLM systems. We help them to maintain and refine this information resource as new data is generated. (More...)
  
  
• Apply materials information to make and implement materials-related design and business decisions - for example, optimizing cost in materials usage, or meeting new environmental regulations. (More...)

The use of materials information technology to address critical business and design problems led to the founding of two further collaborative projects, following the model of the MDMC.

The Materials Strategy Consortium, launched in 2006, focuses on development of software to help manufacturing enterprises in optimizing their specification and use of materials - for example, in order to reduce costs.

The EMIT Consortium, launched in 2008, guides development of data, systems, and software tools that will help to address the vital materials- and process-related issues controlling environmental impact in the lifecycles of engineered products.

Granta for education

Granta's educational offering remains true to its roots in Cambridge University and the innovative materials selection methods developed by Mike Ashby. But this offering has developed and grown almost beyond recognition. Today's educational product, CES EduPack, is a comprehensive package of teaching resources for materials in engineering, processing, science, and design. It is fast becoming a standard in its field - used in 700 universities and colleges worldwide, and in subjects including mechanical engineering, materials, aerospace, architecture, design, polymer education, and eco-engineering.

The software is now one component in a package that includes textbooks, lectures, projects, and exercises. The software itself provides not only much-advanced materials selection capabilities, but an extensive database of materials properties, and textbook-style notes that help students to explore the science underlying materials properties and processing.

Granta today

Granta's hundreds of customers now include many of the world’s leading corporations, government agencies, and universities. We provide the most advanced capability at the intersection of materials and information technology.