One of the greatest inventions in the technology world is simulation. Simulation is creating out put of certain set of inputs without actually doing them in real life. Simulation is a tool which can reduce your product and process development times to 1/10th of the actual development cost. It has escalated the pace of development in all spheres. Imagine building a Aero plane and rebuilding a Aero plane several times to arrive at the most optimum design.
There were days in India we had two cars for 50 years and now we have 100 new cars on the road every year. It is possible as the development time has been squeezed by virtual simulation right from steel making to machining and assembly.
Can you imagine the change happening in a 50 ton molten ingot by change of elements like carbon, Molybdenum, chromium etc. Simulation can now predict the complete ingot structure.
Simulation is changing the way engineering is being done. It is also revealing certain myths about certain technologies and eliminating the skill out of manufacturing.
The pay back period for any simulation soft ware can be less than six months.
I have been using SIMUFACT now for forging and it has revealed several thing which I thought I knew. Simulation may look like a simple cad design but its a combination of intense research and application of physics and mathematics.
I would suggest simulation to be a prerequisite to any organization as machines are meant to produce parts not samples.