Rockwell Automation and Ansys agree strategic partnership

Rockwell Automation and Ansys have agreed a strategic partnership aimed at driving quicker time to market and operational efficiency for customers.

The two companies – market leaders in industrial automation and design simulation – help customers realize better business outcomes through simulation-based digital twins.

Rockwell and Ansys say that their initiative means that industrial companies now have “access to a streamlined, holistic, end-to-end solution for design, automation, production and lifecycle management”.

The partnership between Rockwell Automation, the world’s largest company dedicated exclusively to industrial automation and information, and Ansys, the industry leader in simulation software, was announced at Rockwell Automation’s 28th annual Automation Fair in Chicago.

Ansys and Rockwell Automation will help customers design simulation-based digital twins of products, processes or manufacturing.

Historically manufacturers would dedicate an unimaginable amount of time and money to develop and test physical product prototypes.

Now customers can design and test through simulation to accelerate development and analysis, improving product quality and reducing testing time across their organization.

Blake Moret, chairman and CEO at Rockwell Automation, says: “The Ansys technology, developed with customers in mind, is a giant leap forward in the industrial sector.

“Our collaboration has already shown how we can better serve customers, who are making better business decisions to save money and time because of their access to simulation-based digital twins in their manufacturing process.”

Virtual simulation on the front-end of production is just one way customers save time and money.

Co-innovation between Rockwell Automation and Ansys allows customers to benefit through the entire digital thread.

Once a machine or production line is running, manufacturers can create a digital twin of their full manufacturing process to create and test virtual “what-if” scenarios.

This is crucial in the industrial space, where manufacturers need to change line configurations quickly to adjust to market demands.

Now customers can understand an outcome without disrupting physical assets, resulting in faster time-to-market and large cost savings.

Ajei Gopal, president and CEO at Ansys, says: “Simulation-based digital twins optimize factory operations, saving money by reducing unplanned downtime and empower engineers to test solutions virtually before doing physical repairs.

“Combining Rockwell Automation’s extensive expertise and portfolio of industrial solutions with Ansys’ leading-edge simulation solutions is making it easier for industrial companies to build, validate and deploy digital twins.”

The partners believe in what these joint solutions can deliver. In fact, Rockwell Automation will accelerate its own internal new product and process development using Ansys’ engineering simulation software.

Rockwell Automation expects improved product quality and reduced testing time across the organization.

Ansys is the latest addition to the Digital Partner Program from Rockwell Automation announced earlier this week.

The program grew out of market need and demand for solutions to simplify implementation and enhance quality of industrial digital transformation initiatives.