As companies drive towards virtual product development and complete digital descriptions of their products and manufacturing systems, simulation becomes increasingly important. A company’s actual capability to do simulation well, so it is repeatable, reliable, and robust, can become an important factor in quality,cost and time to market, and overall competitiveness. 

In this opinion piece, Dr.Keith Meintjes of CIMdata—an internationally recognized authority on Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), proposes that simulation can be demonstrably superior to hardware-based test and development in a number of aspects.