Ohio Supercomputer Center, partners to produce advanced ‘manufacturing apps’

The Ohio Third Frontier Commission today helped fund a $6.4 million public/private effort to leverage the power of supercomputers and the ease of web-based applications to enhance the competitive position of Ohio businesses in the global marketplace.

The commission awarded a $3 million Innovation Platform Program (IPP) grant to the Ohio Supercomputer Center (OSC) and its project partners to design and deploy easy-to-use advanced “manufacturing apps” through the group’s Intelligent Simulation Platform, or IntelSim, program. Client partners are funding the balance of the three-year, $6.4 million project.

“Many large manufacturers have embraced simulation-driven design to achieve a degree of market advantage. Simulation-driven design replaces physical product prototyping with less expensive computer simulations, reducing the time to take products to market, while improving quality and cutting costs,” said Pankaj Shah, executive director of OSC. “Smaller manufacturers largely are missing out on this advantage, because they cannot afford to leverage such solutions. IntelSim offers a sustainable competitive advantage with a significantly lower cost than traditional technologies, demonstrated digital tool kits and built-up capabilities.”

Advanced manufacturing simulation apps integrate unique manufacturing domain expertise, sophisticated simulation software and powerful cloud-based resources inside a digitized workflow. For example, by clicking a few buttons in an app that models a pipe manifold, the flow patterns and properties of a liquid can be easily simulated. The OSC team has previously developed similar prototype manufacturing apps for companies in consumer goods, advanced materials and the automotive industry sectors.

A member of the Ohio Technology Consortium, OSC has been at the forefront of the national effort to help industry gain easy and affordable access to advanced modeling and simulation technologies, starting with the 2004 launch of Blue Collar Computing, its innovative and widely regarded industrial outreach initiative. Located on the west campus of The Ohio State University, OSC has developed unique technology capabilities and, together with client partners, a product strategy to help reduce the barriers to entry for this largely untapped global market: cloud-based manufacturing apps delivered through an e-commerce marketplace.

The IntelSim team has an extensive track record leading to the development of IntelSim. OSC is joining forces with client partners Procter & Gamble, Intel, Nimbis Services, TotalSim USA, AltaSim Technologies and Kinetic Vision. Most of these organizations have been involved in the National Digital Engineering & Manufacturing Consortium project, a federal public/private program of recent years to provide Midwestern small- and medium-sized manufacturers with access to advanced modeling and simulation resources.

Proctor & Gamble, TotalSim, AltaSim and Kinetic Vision will be providing modeling and simulation expertise, while Nimbis will provide access to an e-commerce marketplace. Intel, in collaboration with community colleges in Ohio, will focus on workforce training and certification in modeling and simulation.