Rescale is pleased to announce a collaboration with UI LABS, a Chicago-based innovation accelerator, that will increase efficiency and drive down costs in the design-to-manufacturing process across the supply chain.

Rescale will offer its cloud-based simulation tools within the Digital Manufacturing Commons (DMC), UI LABS' open-source online platform for connecting original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and their suppliers. By integrating with the DMC, Rescale will enable users to simulate the physical performance of parts and run what-if scenarios and optimizations to meet specified goals.

Aerospace OEMs design and manufacture systems that incorporate thousands of supplied parts to make a highly-complex overall system. All these manufactured parts have specified design tolerances, or amounts that a dimension can vary, which lead to performance variation. Collectively, the performance variations of multiple parts can impact the robustness of the whole system. To minimize potential problems, many parts may be designed with a higher tolerance, which increases the per-unit manufacturing cost. Not all design features are critical to performance, and this over-engineering may significantly increase cost for the complete system.

To create a fully optimized system, OEMs are looking to build a more collaborative and innovative design and manufacturing environment across the entire supply chain. When a supplier's design and manufacturing teams work in isolated silos, the result is often a suboptimal end-product. "Rescale provides a secure and effective framework for data exchange, which enables OEMs to optimize their supply chain environment," says Rescale's VP Marketing, Jonathan Oakley. "We are excited to partner with UI LABS to help unlock supply chain efficiencies for OEMs so they can more quickly evaluate proposals while encouraging greater supplier innovation and a higher response to requests for proposal."

With a comprehensive library of computer-aided engineering (CAE) software and access to all the major high-performance computing (HPC) data centers worldwide, Rescale enables OEMs, their suppliers, and the DMC to realize the vision of a fast, innovative, collaborative, and secure design-to-manufacturing environment.

"Startups like Rescale play an essential role within our network of partners by introducing cutting-edge technology that can help make U.S. manufacturing more competitive," said Paul Seeman, Chief Business Officer for UI LABS. "We're excited to see their solutions deployed on the Digital Manufacturing Commons for the benefit of large OEMs and other manufacturers throughout the supply chain."

The DMC was designed as a collaboration tool for manufacturers, allowing distributed teams to share solutions within a common virtual workspace by linking people, data, and tools in a secure environment with protected intellectual property. It is currently in beta release.