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GRANTA MI:EMO

The Enterprise Materials Optimizer in GRANTA MI builds on Granta’s expertise in materials selection, and enables selection by functional requirements to be combined with an overall objective such as minimizing cost.

The importance of 'cost per unit of function'

Different companies have different drivers for their materials strategies, but a common thread is the need to consider the functional requirements of a material in conjunction with some definition of the 'cost' of specifying and using that material. 'Cost' may mean the $ cost of procuring and processing the material, the environmental implications of its use, or some other metric. Typically, the driver will be a material cost reduction program, targeting both new product development and evolutionary product cost reduction efforts – but it could also be weight reduction (aerospace); volume reduction (miniaturization, nano); process cost reduction; eco-cost reduction; or substitution of ‘retired’ materials (MSAA).

However cost is defined, the concept of 'cost per unit of function' is fundamental to most materials strategies. The Enterprise Materials Optimizer embodies this concept, providing the bridge between the technical generation and management of materials property data, and its effective use in commercial and product lifecycle decisions.

Using MI:EMO

A simple-to-use wizard guides the user through the process, starting with specifying the design objective. This might be, for example, to select the best material to minimize the cost of a panel loaded in bending. Users can then specify any additional 'must-have' functional requirements, such as thermal or electrical properties. The system will then rank all candidate materials with respect to the overall design objective — with further iterations being simple to explore.

There is complete flexibility in defining the optimization objectives — enabling sophisticated studies, while still being user-friendly. One valuable feature is the ability to define an existing material as a benchmark against which all other candidates are ranked, enabling rapid and straightforward comparisons, for example, when searching for substitute materials.

This functionality is all accessed via the GRANTA MI:Viewer user interface. This provides another powerful feature - the ability to support implementation of materials decisions across the enterprise. You can define 'business rules' that capture your preferred materials or the recommended approach to a particular materials decision. Through MI:Viewer's web browser interface, MI:EMO analyses can be made available to any user in a highly user-friendly manner, and with business rules already defined. Thus MI:EMO becomes a tool to ensure that decisions are taken consistently and repeatably across the business.

Key capabilities

Definition of design objective, and associated materials ranking

Materials databases typically operate in terms of as-tested materials properties, such as 'Modulus of Elasticity'. However, when designing a component, a designer has an objective for the overall component, such as maximizing the stiffness of a beam in bending. Further, the designer does not have limitless scope in optimizing this stiffness, but will most likely be constrained by some other factor, such as cost. So the design objective becomes 'maximizing the stiffness of a beam in bending, for minimum cost'. Using the performance index methodology pioneered by Professor Mike Ashby, the Enterprise Materials Optimizer enables users to specify not the 'raw' materials properties, but instead these compound design objectives. The system then computes the indices from the property data and enables the user to rank the candidate materials in terms of the combined techno-economic parameter.

Operation in terms of a hierarchical classification of preferred materials

An important aspect of most companies' materials strategies is the definition of preferred materials and/or suppliers. Materials may be preferred on cost or availability grounds, the capability of the factory to process them, or a variety of other reasons. Strategically, the company requires designers to initially consider only these preferred materials – and only if they are not suitable, follow a rational and systemic process to determine the 'next best' choice in line with the strategy. The Enterprise Materials Optimizer enables this systematic process to be followed, in conjunction with the hierarchical classification of materials in preferred 'tiers'. Operation of the system, and the reports produced in response to user input, is initially restricted to 'Tier 1 preferred materials' only – and only if none of these are suitable, is the user invited to consider the next category of materials in the preferred hierarchy.

Operation with respect to a known reference material

A number of the use cases of this approach involve consideration of the options with respect to a known existing material. For example, a manufacturer may wish to replace the existing material with a cheaper one, or one that is easier to procure, or he may be required to do so due to environmental regulations. Or, a material producer may wish to see how his materials compare to a competitor’s, or to define the market position of a newly developed material. These, and a number of similar key use cases, are catered for by the Enterprise Materials Optimizer via its concept of a Reference Material. Chosen by the user, this reference material appears in all materials lists, pass/fail reports and graphical illustrations of material performance – and the performance indices of all candidate materials are automatically normalized against that of the reference material.

MI:EMO as part of a wider solution

MI:EMO is the flagship product for Granta's Materials Strategy initiative.