01 / AUTOMATE
Remove repetitive work
Engineering workflows often contain repetitive tasks that can be automated, from preprocessing and geometry operations to result extraction and reporting.
MATAPPLY PROBLEM / ENGINEERING + PRODUCT
Reduce development time.
The fastest development process is not necessarily the one with the most engineers working harder. It is the one that removes unnecessary iterations, automates repetitive work, improves decisions and identifies problems earlier.
01 / THE PROBLEM
Why does product development take so long?
MATAPPLY DEFINITION
Development time is often consumed not by a single difficult engineering calculation, but by repeated cycles of design, analysis, correction, communication, validation and decision-making.
A development process can therefore become slow even when individual engineering tasks are highly capable.
The opportunity is to understand where time is actually being lost and then redesign the development loop around faster, better-informed decisions.
02 / DEVELOPMENT BOTTLENECKS
Where does development time disappear?
01
Repeated design iterations
02
Manual engineering work
03
Slow simulation cycles
04
Data and tool fragmentation
05
Late discovery of problems
06
Slow technical decisions
03 / ENGINEERING
Engineering should reduce uncertainty, not create more loops.
02 / SIMULATE
Move decisions earlier
Simulation and analysis can help identify poor concepts before they progress further through the development process.
03 / PARAMETERIZE
Turn redesign into exploration
Parameterised models can make design-space exploration faster than manually rebuilding every alternative.
04 / REUSE
Capture engineering knowledge
Reusable algorithms, workflows and validated models can prevent teams from solving the same problem repeatedly.
MATAPPLY INSIGHT
The biggest time saving may happen between tools.
A large amount of development friction can occur when geometry, simulation, analysis results, spreadsheets, reports and engineering decisions are disconnected. Connecting those steps can sometimes create more value than optimizing any single tool.
04 / ENGINEERING AUTOMATION
Automate the work that should not require repetition.
Geometry automation
Generate, modify and evaluate geometry systematically instead of repeating manual modelling operations.
Simulation automation
Automate model preparation, solver execution, result extraction and repeated analysis workflows.
Data automation
Move engineering information between tools and preserve useful results for future decisions.
Reporting automation
Convert analysis results into consistent engineering outputs without rebuilding reports manually.
Design exploration
Evaluate multiple design alternatives systematically instead of relying entirely on sequential manual iteration.
Decision support
Present the important engineering relationships so teams can make decisions faster and with greater confidence.
05 / AI + ENGINEERING
AI can change the development loop.
AI does not need to replace engineering analysis to create value.
It can instead help reduce the number of expensive or time-consuming iterations required to reach a satisfactory solution.
01 / PREDICT
Surrogate models
Approximate expensive simulations using models trained on previous engineering results when the problem is suitable.
02 / EXPLORE
Design-space exploration
Search large combinations of design variables more efficiently than purely manual iteration.
03 / LEARN
Engineering knowledge
Use previous designs, analyses and outcomes as a source of knowledge for future development.
04 / ASSIST
Engineering decisions
Help engineers identify relevant variables, alternatives, relationships and potential trade-offs.
06 / DEVELOPMENT LOOP
Shorten the loop, not just the individual task.
01
Define requirements
02
Create concept
03
Analyse
04
Learn and modify
05
Validate decision
The goal is not simply to make each stage faster. The larger opportunity is to reduce the number of unnecessary cycles between them.
07 / PRODUCT IMPACT
Faster development can change the product itself.
When exploring an alternative design becomes cheaper and faster, teams can evaluate ideas that previously would not have justified the time required.
This means development speed is not merely a project-management metric. It can directly influence how much design exploration a product receives—and therefore what ultimately gets built.
MATAPPLY PRINCIPLE
Faster iteration creates room for better ideas.
Reducing development time can increase the number of meaningful design alternatives a team can investigate before committing to a product direction.
08 / EXPLORE THE ENGINEERING
Go deeper.
Product Engineering
Explore the engineering decisions involved in developing better products.
Explore Product Engineering →Engineering Optimization
Explore systematic methods for finding better engineering solutions within constraints.
Explore Engineering Optimization →CAE / FEA
Explore simulation and engineering analysis as part of the product development process.
Explore CAE / FEA →Product Strategy
Understand how faster technical decisions connect with product direction and business priorities.
Explore Product Strategy →
09 / COMMON QUESTIONS
Development-time questions.
How can product development time be reduced?
Development time can be reduced by identifying bottlenecks, automating repetitive work, improving simulation workflows, reusing engineering knowledge and making important decisions earlier.
Can engineering automation reduce development time?
Yes. Automation can reduce repetitive modelling, simulation, data processing, reporting and other engineering tasks.
Can AI reduce engineering development time?
AI can potentially reduce development time through prediction, design-space exploration, surrogate modelling and engineering decision support, depending on the problem and available data.
Why are development iterations so expensive?
Each iteration can involve design changes, analysis, reviews, manufacturing considerations, testing and communication. Reducing unnecessary iterations can therefore have a large impact on total development time.
MATAPPLY PROBLEM ENGINE
What part of your development process needs to become faster?
Start with the bottleneck. MATAPPLY connects engineering, technology, product and business perspectives to identify possible paths toward faster development.
START WITH A PROBLEM