Leading Diesel Engine Manufacturer Perkins Selects solidThinking Inspired for Industrial Engine Structural Optimization

TROY, Mich., Sept. 27, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Altair Engineering, Inc., a leading global provider of technology and services that empower client innovation and decision-making, announced today that Global engine manufacturer Perkins has deployed solidThinking Inspired to optimize the design of industrial engine components.  

"Perkins has a reputation for delivering durable, long lasting industrial engines," said Martin Dirker, Engineering Team Leader at Perkins Engines. "We were looking for an affordable tool that could help us optimize the design of our engine brackets to meet stiffness targets and reduce overall design iteration time."

In 2011, Perkins invested in solidThinking Inspired 3D conceptual design software to help visualize, explore and evaluate designs in less time.

"solidThinking Inspired has helped us optimize bracket designs to meet stiffness targets and therefore improve the overall system stiffness by more than 10 times," said Martin Dirker.  "We have also significantly reduced the design iteration time. Whereas we were previously taking up to two weeks to optimize a single component, we are now able to do this in just an afternoon. This means that we have been able to reduce the overall design time from six weeks to just over four weeks."

The ability to use Pro Engineer geometry directly, together with the ease of learning the software, were key drivers for Perkins's selection of solidThinking Inspired.

"We know about Altair and are very enthusiastic about solidThinking," added Martin Dirker. "It's easy to use, delivers results quickly and has given us the confidence to meet our targets. solidThinking Inspired has impressed us and is the most effective structural optimization tool I've worked with."

"We are very pleased to see Perkins Engines use our tools to enhance their development processes," said David Mason, Managing Director, Altair Engineering, U.K. "solidThinking is the industrial design software of choice that is redefining the way CAD models are visualized and optimized. It accelerates the overall design time and offers customers a cost-effective solution. I expect to see more manufacturing companies in the U.K. turning to solidThinking Inspired thanks to the business benefits the product offers."

About Perkins  

For 75 years Perkins has led the field in the design and manufacture of high-performance diesel and gas engines. Their engines power more than 5,000 different applications from over 1,000 major equipment manufacturers in the construction, power generation, materials handling, agricultural and general industrial markets.

Perkins is a global manufacturing company, with plants in the United Kingdom, USA, China and Brazil. For more information, please visit: www.perkins.com

About solidThinking

solidThinking, Inc. (http://www.solidthinking.com/) develops and markets industrial design/styling software that helps designers invent, explore and evaluate new ideas easily, rapidly and cost-effectively, without the limitations of traditional software. Using solidThinking's conceptual 3D modeling capabilities, visualization interface and fast real-time rendering, designers can model, render and share their projects on the fly, from architecture and automobiles to electronic devices, jewelry, product packaging and yachts. solidThinking is a wholly owned subsidiary of Troy, Mich. (USA)-based Altair Engineering, Inc. (http://www.altair.com).

solidThinking software packaged with the Altair HyperWorks Enterprise CAE Suite is available in Europe through local Altair offices. These tools can be accessed by existing HyperWorks customers starting with version 11.0.  solidThinking software can also be purchased individually via a well established reseller base.

About Altair

Altair Engineering, Inc. empowers client innovation and decision-making through technology that optimizes the analysis, management and visualization of business and engineering information. Privately held, with more than 1,500 employees, Altair has offices throughout North America, South America, Europe and Asia/Pacific. With a 26-year track record for high-end software and consulting services for engineering, computing and enterprise analytics, Altair consistently delivers a competitive advantage to customers in a broad range of industries. To learn more, please visit www.altair.com and www.altairhtc.com.

SOURCE Altair Engineering, Inc.