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FROM THE VIRTUAL TRY-OUT SPACE 

TALK PAMNEWS 

product news 

Parallel processing 

with ProCAST 2005 

corporate 

FY2004 Sales up 19% 

to EUR 58,3M in line 

with expectations 

Special Report on Germany 

25 years dedicated 

to virtual engineering 

Success Story Courage Competition: 

an exemplary mastery of performance 

ISSUE 

28 

www.esi-group.com 

SPRING 2005

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4 

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19 

PAMTALK is issued quarterly 

by ESI Group 

Executive Editor: Vincent Chaillou 

Editor-in-Chief: Danièle Burdin-Dumont 

Stéphanie Austin 

ESI Group Marketing 

PARC D’AFFAIRES SILIC 

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Tel: +33 (0) 1 41 73 58 00 

Fax: +33 (0) 1 46 87 72 02 


info@esi-group.com 

Design: Agence TETRAKTYS 

ISSN 1635-866X 

Impression : RIVET PRESSE EDITION - 24, rue Claude-Henri Gorceix 

87280 LIMOGES 

Dépôt légal : Avril 05 

contents 

SUCCESS STORY 

Courage Competition: an exemplary mastery of performance 

CORUS and ESI Group partnership 

PRODUCT NEWS 

Visual-Crash for PAM; the first brick of ESI Group’s new open 

integrated environment 

EASI-Process 

3 questions to Velayudham Ganesan, Business Development Manager 

SPECIAL REPORT 

25 years dedicated to virtual engineering 

PAM-STAMP 2G helps Kirchhoff Automotive 

design car modules ‘right first time” 

CASTING 

Parallel processing with ProCAST 2005 

PAM-QUIKCAST 2005 speeds up casting process evaluation 

Solidification course 2005 

ESI Group’s casting solutions gain ground in South America 

EVENTS 

Official inauguration of ESI Group’s Software 

Product Development Center in Bangalore, India 

CORPORATE 

New sales activities and distribution of EASi-CRASH 

products in Germany by ESI GmbH 

FY2004 Sales up 19% to EUR 58,3M 

in line with expectations. 

What’s new at www.esi-group.com? 

All PAM and SYS products are trademarks of ESI Group. All other 

products, names and companies referenced are trademarks or 

registered trademarks of their respective owners. All text and images 

included in the articles are the copyright of the companies presenting 

their applications and simulations tasks. 

Photo credits: Corus, Courage Competition, Dana S.H Foundiciones, 

Kirchhoff Automotive, Montupet, Rimstock, ESI Group. 


ISSUE 

28 

SPRING 2005 

e e 

Germany 

special projects 

As industry now embraces a new paradigm called 

Simulation-Based-Design, more favorable to innovation 

and overall more effective and less expensive than our 

traditional trial and error methodology, physical prototypes 

are now being progressively replaced, not only because 

they are cost, time and energy consuming, but because 

they cannot always be used, and in some situations, they 

cannot even exist! 

The realistic account of the physics of materials and of the 

fabrication processes which determine them is a critical 

factor to ensuring the reliability of virtual simulation. 

A fine example of the extent of these major changes is 

reflected in the activity our subsidiary in Germany, ESI 

GmbH which celebrates the quarter century anniversary of 

its opening in 1979, moving from the inception of crash 

techniques with Volkswagen in the early eighties, to today’s 

most advanced simulation technology such as FPM for 

OOP decision process for Airbag. 

ditorial 

More recently, the acquisition of VA, EASi, CFD and 

Casting technologies, has enabled our German team to 

widen its skills and knowledge, through dedicated 

business units, like the new SPM team whose mission is to 

serve the EASI customer base and support the SPM/EASi 

Process solutions, and new technologies such as Casting 

for Virtual Manufacturing. 

Simulation-Based-Design is no longer a futuristic 

methodology for early adopters, but along with Virtual 

Manufacturing (VM), it is at the very core of our VTOS 

solutions, it means to predict product performance 

“as built” and not only “as designed” and this is the 

perspective of our team in Germany for example to work 

with our customers to reach new levels in productivity 

and innovation 

Vincent Chaillou 

President and Chief Operating Officer, 

Products 

editorial 

Operations, ESI Group 

d i t o r i a l 

3

SUCCESS STORY PRODUCT NEWS SPECIAL REPORT CASTING EVENTS CORPORATE 

Courage C65 won 2004 LMES 1,000 kms championship with three victories, category LMP2 

PAM-CRASH validation 

of the C60 frontal crash 

(total mass: 1,000 kg, 

initial speed: 14 m/s, 

difference between 

experiments and 

simulation: less 

than 5%) 

Alain de Rouvray 

congratulating 

Nicolas Perrin and 

Yves Courage 

Time is a drastic 

constraint for racing car 

builders who only have six 

months to produce a new 

model compared to 

three years for standard 

vehicles. In addition, 

development cycles are 

punctuated by 

championships, which 

reduces available time 

and a race car is made 

up of 3,000 different 

parts often modified 

over a season. All this 

combined with 

compliance to severe regulations and 

extreme safety criteria, give an 

overview of how designing winning 

cars is a real challenge! 

The challenge 

of endurance racing 

To provide the highest levels of 

performance and technical reliability 

Courage Competition has to 

concentrate its efforts on: 

■ minimizing time dedicated to 

feasibility studies and tests on the 

racing tracks, 

■ mastering all available 

CAD/CAM/CAE technologies 

adopted by the major racing teams, 

■ quickly evaluating the most 

profitable solutions applicable to 

small series (prototypes 

manufacturing), 

■ deciding quickly on the right design 

in less than six months, 

■ taking into account mechanical parts 

in-service lifetime and fatigue. 

Finally, new regulations in favor of 

engine power limitation impose 

Courage Competition to perform 

several design modifications of the 

external shapes and the undertray until 

reaching the expected structural 

weight reduction. Consequently, 

Courage is making extensive use of 

composite materials and is relying 

more and more on virtual simulation. 

Courage 

Competition: 

an exemplary 

mastery of 

performance 

In the rush for ever-enhanced 

reliability and performance 

PAM-CRASH and SYSPLY help the 

French racing team optimize design 

and safety while reducing lead-times 

Teaming for competitiveness 

Courage Competition has a permanent 

strategic objective to control the 

car's development from initial design 

to production. The company 

manufactures half of the composite 

body parts in its Le Mans workshops. 

In this respect, the independent French 

car manufacturer has deployed the 

most promising technologies to carry 

out development tasks while being 

ready to face new championship 

challenges. 

A few years ago, Courage Competition 

initiated the CATIA V5 CAD/CAM 

solution in partnership with HP. After 

implementing this solution, Courage 

Competition is now focusing on both 

crash-tests and composite material 

structure design. The company intends 

to reduce the number of expensive 

physical prototype trials by using ESI 

Group’s simulation solutions: PAM- 

CRASH for virtual crash test and 

SYSPLY for composite design 

simulation. In 2003, again in 

collaboration with HP, the first phase 

‘ 

Up to now we have successfully validated with 

PAM-CRASH the results of a frontal crash on the‘ 

car’s survival body as well as other homologating 

crash tests on composite materials structures ‘‘ 

success story 

4 www.esi-group.com 

Yves Courage, President and founder, Courage Competition


consisted of validating technical 

parameters by accurately reproducing 

real, measured data. 

“Up to now we have successfully 

validated with PAM-CRASH the results 

of a frontal crash on the survival body 

as well as other homologating crash 

tests on composite materials 

structures,” says Yves Courage. 

“Another significant result concerns the 

design of the C65 flat bottom; using 

SYSPLY we achieved a composite 

materials structure 25% lighter and 

almost two times stiffer than the 

previous one. The virtual simulation of 

crash-tests and composite part design 

are now fully integrated within the 

development process of any new 

family of cars, in order to reduce the 

number of prototypes by one third” 

adds the President and founder. 

SYSPLY analysis 

of the Courage C65 cockpit 

The Courage C65 body has undergone 

several endurance racing 

homologating tests as specified by 

ACO (Automobile Club de l’Ouest), the 

leading automobile club in France, 

creator and organizer of the Le Mans 

24-hour race. The tests consist in 

complying to a series of criteria with a 

minimal weight. “The frontal crash and 

the analysis of loads and pressures on 

the roll bar have shown good 

agreement with experimental 

measurements,” explains Nicolas 


Perrin, race engineer, responsible for 

Research & Development and FEM 

Analysis, Courage Competition. 

“SYSPLY allows to identify quickly the 

areas where gains of weight or stiffness 

can be achieved and this is of decisive 

importance for the design of the future 

chassis,” states N. Perrin. 

SYSPLY also helps to determine the 

shape, the alignment and the placing of 

carbon fabric which covers over 80% 

of a Courage model, mainly the body, 

the chassis, the aerofoil or the 

undertray. A direct link with CAD 

enables several geometries to be 

imported from Catia for further design 

analyses using SYSPLY. During the 

designing sequence SYSPLY assists 

the user in choosing the necessary 

number of layers, the alignment of 

fibers and the draping sequences. All 

this implies considerable time and 

costs savings. 

“Future work will be directed towards 

simulation of lateral crash to ensure an 

increased protection of the driver, 

among other analyses, such as fracture 

and fatigue”, concludes Yves Courage. 

In 2004, Courage Competition was the 

first and only competitor to launch their 

C65 racing cars, meeting new 

regulation and security rules of LMP2 

prototype category. The team is still 

looking to expand its technological 

leadership and innovation capacity 

through virtual simulation. 

The results obtained are quite significant 

Without SYSPLY With SYSPLY 

and allow Courage Competition to 

consider a broadest customer base in 

Europe and in the USA with the rapid 

acceptance of its commercial product in 

the LMP2 category and to enter again in 

the top endurance category, the LMP1 

prototype, finally realizing the ultimate 

founder’s dream: win the Le Mans 24hour 

race! 

‘ 

Using SYSPLY 

for the design of the 

C65 flat bottom, we 

achieved a structure ‘ 

25% lighter and almost 

‘‘ 

two times stiffer 

Yves Courage, President and founder, 

Courage Competition 

SYSPLY analysis of the C65 cockpit for 

the homologating test. Model with 

41801 elements to study displacements, 

materials orientation, loads and pressure 

on the roll bar. 

SYSPLY optimization of the C65 flat bottom 

About Courage Competition 

Technical data 

Courage C65 

■ Configuration: two seater with 

open roof, central rear engine, 

propulsion 

■ Chassis: carbon fiber, 

honeycomb aluminum 

■ Body: carbon, kevlar, 

honeycomb with aeronautical 

fixations 

■ Suspension: double 

wishbones, dynamic springshock 

absorber 

■ Engine: AER 4 cyl., 2.0 L 

Turbo, 2.5 BAR 

■ Power: around 530hp, max 

speed at 7500 rpm 

■ Transmission: Hewland 

Courage TLS 6 speed 

sequential gearbox 

■ Wheels: BBS 18’’ rims 

■ Brakes: Brembo caliper, 

carbon discs and pads 

■ Tank capacity: 90 Liters 

■ Weight without driver: 750 Kg 

■ As founder, Yves Courage's first entry into Le Mans dates back to 

1977. But Courage Competition made its debut in endurance 

racing at the 24 Hours in 1982. 

■ For more than 20 years Courage prototypes have been competing 

with the biggest names in international car racing always obtaining 

excellent scores at the final ranking. 

success story 5


CORUS and ESI Group partnership 

Integration of the Corus-Vegter model into PAM-STAMP 2G software 

improves reliability and cost benefits 

About Corus 

Real-life product 

pressed without 

complications 

Corus, Europe’s third largest 

steel manufacturer, is 

achieving recognition in the 

automotive industry as an 

“intelligent supplier of 

material”. Corus provides 

innovative solutions to 

construction, automotive, 

packaging, mechanical 

engineering and other 

markets worldwide. 

Corus’ expertise is drawn 

from an intimate knowledge 

of contemporary vehicle 

performance requirements, 

manufacturing-feasible ideas, 

and material properties. 

Corus, the international 

metal’s producer, and ESI 

Group have announced the 

integration of the Corus- 

Vegter model, a new advanced material 

simulation model, into the PAM-STAMP 

2G software package. Through Corus 

and ESI Group expertise, automotive 

Conventional material model 

predicts fracture incorrectly 

PAM-STAMP 2G 

simulation with Corus 

material model predicts 

feasible production 

designers and engineers will be able to 

significantly improve accuracy of 

formability analysis predictions and 

press stamping evaluations. 

Formability analysis tools are currently 

used to predict material behavior to 

simulate what happens when sheet 

material is stamped into a threedimensional 

part, such as a body panel. 

However, as carmakers increasingly 

use advanced high strength steels and 

aluminum alloys, existing material 

simulation tools – largely based on data 

from mild strength steels and featuring 

relatively simple models- are becoming 

more and more inadequate for the latest 

simulation requirements, especially 

panel quality and tolerance control. 

Corus has developed the Corus-Vegter 

model, which consists of an improved 

yield locus description and an improved 

strain hardening description. It 

incorporates Corus’ advanced 

understanding of sheet metal behavior 

during deformation. This development 

is a response to the need from the 

global automotive industry for a model 

that can accurately predict the behavior 

of more modern and widely used 

materials. 

Easy to use, the Vegter model features 

the latest data, including high strength 

steels and aluminum. Not only does it 

improve the performance of stamping 

operations but it also provides a 

powerful tool to help manufacturers 

speed up the proving process, therefore 

reducing the costs of new product 

development. The ability to more 

accurately predict behavior will also 

lead to improved part reliability on new 

vehicle models. 

“New material grades present constant 

challenges to improve final part quality 

assessment and tolerance control. 

Through the cooperation with Corus, 

ESI Group has developed within PAM- 

STAMP 2G state-of-the-art material 

technology modeling to meet the 

demand for high quality material 

models”, said Dr Fouad El Khaldi, 

Product Operations Manager, ESI 

Group. 

Validation using the Renault 

Modus inner read door 

Validated on standard test pieces as 

well as on an actual automotive 

component, the model allows 

engineers and designers to predict yield 

behavior more accurately under 

complex stress states. 

To demonstrate the increased accuracy 

of the Corus-Vegter material model 

compared to standard models, Renault 

and Corus chose the rear inner door of 

the Renault Modus as a test case. The 

strains resulting from the first draw were 

measured using the PHAST 

measurement system. To build the 

simulation, Corus used a laser scanner 

on-site at Renault to obtain the actual 

geometry of the tools used by Renault. 

The simulation was performed with 

three material models: the standard 

Hill’48 model, the Hill’90 model and the 

Corus-Vegter model. 

The Corus-Vegter model correctly 

predicts the risk of rupture of the most 

critical area of the part. 

The thinning, strain distribution and 

blank edge movement (draw-in) as 

predicted by the Corus-Vegter model 

were closer to reality than the 

predictions obtained from the Hill’48 

and Hill’90 model. 

Another advantage of this model is the 

very little extra CPU time which is 

needed for this increase in accuracy. 

“The validation of the Corus-Vegter 

model in PAM-STAMP 2G on an 

industrial part shows how collaboration 

between Car Manufacturer, Steel 

Manufacturer and Software Supplier 

can contribute to the continuous 

improvement of the quality of simulation 

results” said Mr. M. El Mouatassim, 

CAE and stamping feasibility team 

leader and BIW engineering, Renault. 

To conclude, we can say that the Vegter 

model is a good example of how Corus, 

in partnership with ESI Group, provides 

the engineering tools that enable 

automotive customers to design more 

confidently and to optimize processes 

in advance of expensive prototype or 

tooling build. 

success story 

6 www.esi-group.com


Visual-Crash for PAM, 

the first brick of ESI Group's 

new open integrated 

environment 

ESI Group integrates EASI’s renowned technology 

into its state-of-the-art solvers 

Visual-Crash for PAM 

(VCP) marks a decisive step 

towards ESI Group's new 

open integrated environment, 

now available for PAM-CRASH solution. 

ESI Group leverages the acquisition of 

EASI by integrating the company's 

renowned technology into its virtual 

engineering solution, known as the 

Virtual Try-Out Space. This strategy 

paves the way to a unique open 

environment where competitive 

simulation software can be coupled 

with ESI Group's state-of-the-art 

solvers. First delivered for PAM-CRASH 

users, this open environment allows 

them to address any crash and safety 

related simulations as it effectively 

replaces the most competitive 

environment solutions. 

VCP combines PAM-CRASH former 

environment solution with EASi's 

technology. The embedded data model 

offers a very versatile environment 

where new applications and interfaces 

with tier solutions are easily 

implemented. 

“Visual-Crash for PAM allows PAM- 

CRASH users to focus and rely on high 

quality digital models, from start to 

finish. As reliable simulation 

methodologies are emerging for multidisciplinary 

simulation, robust 

simulation-based design processes are 

now available, embedding proprietary 

Availability 


'know-how' and 'best practice' “said 

Vincent Chaillou, President and COO, 

Product Operations, ESI Group. 

From data input to visualization, VCP 

seamless environment provides PAM- 

CRASH users with fast iteration and 

rapid model revision process. The 

environment offers a quick model 

browsing, advanced meshing 

capabilities and rapid graphical 

assembly of system models. VCP 

allows graphical creation, modification 

and deletion of contacts, materials, 

constraint control cards and all crash 

entities. 

Visual-process associated to VCP 

brings a compelling advantage to PAM- 

CRASH users helping automate 

cumbersome and repetitive tasks, and 

easy coupling with third parties’ 

applications. Using VCP's multiwindow, 

multi-models, multiapplication 

environment with visual 

verification, PAM-CRASH users easily 

address the coupling of finite element 

and rigid-body models, a requisite in 

safety simulation. 

Leveraging this state-of-the-art 

environment, a visualization and 

plotting solution helps analyze PAM- 

CRASH result data within a uniform 

interface. The viewer performs 

automated task and generates 

customized reports therefore increasing 

engineer productivity. 

Visual-Crash for PAM Environment is available on PC platforms (Windows 2000, XP 

Professional), UNIX workstations (HP-UX, SunOS, SGI, IBM) and Linux-hardware 

vendors supported platforms. 

Porting open Virtual Try-Out 

Space on Microsoft 64-Bit 

Windows 

ESI Group demonstrated at EuroPAM’04 the powerful capabilities of its 

Open Virtual Try-Out Space Solution (VTOS), a proven engineering 

simulation environment, on Microsoft's new 64-bit Windows operating 

system. PAM-CRASH is the first crash simulation solution on the market 

to be ported to 64-bit Windows 64, before the future release of other 

major CAE software from ESI Group. 

The Open VTOS prototype demonstration at EuroPAM 2004 includes 

several pre-ported product components such as PAM-CRASH solvers in 

SMP and DMP modes, as well as the new graphical framework for both 

Windows 64-bit Itanium Processor Family (IPF) and 64-bit Extended 

Systems (Intel Xeon with Extended Memory 64-bit technology). 

“ESI Group believes that Windows 64-bit will become one of the major 

operating systems for CAE applications as it delivers a highly competitive 

price/performance ratio within a consistent global simulation chain,” says 

Vincent Chaillou, President and COO, Product Operations, ESI Group. 

Microsoft's 64-bit operating system offers a cost-effective approach to 

running typical CAE applications, which usually require large memory 

resources, in excess of 2-Gbytes. The new 64-bit systems running 

Windows XP professional x64 Edition allow, through a dual 32/64-bit 

offer, for mass market applications and continuous PLM engineering. 

Microsoft plans to introduce Windows XP professional x64 Edition and 

Windows Server 2003 x64 during the first half of 2005. Both operating 

systems are currently available in beta versions. 

product news 7

8 

SUCCESS STORY SPECIAL REPORT PRODUCT NEWS CASTING 

EVENTS CORPORATE 

EASi-Process 

An unmatched software for creating, 

automating, and customizing 

CAE processes in CAE model building 

and analysis. 

Today’s vehicle systems 

and subsystems are 

engineered using established 

CAE processes to optimize 

their design for Stiffness and 

durability, Noise and vibration, Crash 

worthiness and Occupant safety, 

Sealing etc. European or US Federal 

standards, such as FMVSS 201 (Head 

impact), 208 (Frontal Crash), are very 

frequently carried out in engineering 

simulations using various preprocessors 

and post-processors. 

These generally include creation of 

baseline CAD data, preparation of FE 

models, formulation of the analysis 

problem in the appropriate solver 

language, submission to solver 

program to obtain analysis solution, 

post-processing of the results and 

finally writing a report. Each of these 

processes itself could comprise of 

complex sub-processes and may 

even include exchanging data 

between different solvers. The time 

consuming tasks, from simulation 

model preparation to report 

generation, can be carried out in an 

automated environment resulting in 

productivity and enterprise benefits. 

product news 

The key aspect of building an EASi- 

Process template is to first understand 

the CAE process itself. The process 

flow template must be derived from 

the experienced user’s best and 

standardized practice to distinguish all 

inputs and outputs and recognize the 

function of each task including 

breaking up complex process tasks 

into simpler sub-processes. 

EASi-Process is a software 

environment that enables automation 

of CAE process simulation. It is 

developed as a complete solution to 

this problem and is the first integrated 

environment for creating, automating 

and standardizing CAE processes. 

EASi-CRASH DYNA is a premier pre 

and post-processor for LS-DYNA 

within which the EASi-Process can be 

integrated to select and run the 

predefined templates of the CAE 

process. This can also be performed 

by EASi-CRASH MADYMO, EASi- 

CRASH RADIOSS as well as in the 

NVH and durability domain. 

Buildtime Environment 

“Process Builder” is a graphical 

interface developed within the EASi- 

VISTA architecture and dedicated to 

experienced customers that desire to 

develop and maintain by themselves 

their libraries of process templates. 

“Process Builder” contains a set of 

software modules and object libraries 

for various CAE tasks, which the user 

can add to. Each task is represented 

by a process block. Each block is 

provided with a knowledge advisory 

that captures the expertise of 

experienced users. The desired report 

layout format is envisaged and 

implemented in the “Generate Report” 

task block. 

Runtime Application 

A user friendly and intuitive graphical 

interface (mainly called as EASi- 

Process) is used to execute the 

process templates. It is dedicated to 

CAE users that perform day to day 

tasks which have been automated 

through a process template. 

The process executor can be 

integrated within the EASi-CRASH 

DYNA environment for quick 

interaction and model setup. 

This process automation, based on 

EASi-Process, provides intuitive 

environment, ideal for new users and 

non-specialists. It allows to shorten 

time per design iteration and decrease 

expertise requirement to prepare 

models and process results, 

The landmark technology of EASi- 

Process integrated with EASi-CRASH 

DYNA allows analysis processes to be 

implemented with automation 

techniques in a company towards 

enterprise wide standardization. It 

alleviates CAE engineers from 

drudgery involved in conducting 

repetitive processes and frees them to 

truly spend their time in value added 

engineering for product development. 

Accuracy and consistency of reports 

are assured and the immediate benefit 

realized is extreme productivity. 

www.esi-group.com

SUCCESS STORY SPECIAL REPORT PRODUCT NEWS CASTING 


PAMTALK: 

Can you tell me about 

EASi-PROCESS ? 

Velayudham Ganesan: EASi-PROCESS 

is an advanced CAE environment to 

capture and standardize the corporate 

best practices. 

This solution not only 

automates regulatory 

test simulation 

procedures such as 

FMVSS, IIHS, ECE-R 

for crash and safety, 

but also structural 

assessment such as NVH 

and durability. 

Process templates are provided in 

EASi-CRASH environment or Visual 

Environment to accelerate model 

building and simulation tasks. Typical 

gains lead users to spend a few 

minutes in setting up a model when 

they spend several days with 

traditional methods. 

The engineers get huge benefits in 

terms of productivity, standardization; 

can spend more time on engineering 

while modeling and simulation is done 

in a fast-methodology using EASi- 

PROCESS. 


3 

questions to... 

1 2 

Velayudham Ganesan, 

Business Development Manager 

North America and Asia 

PAMTALK: 

For which application 

is EASi-PROCESS 

the best solution? 

Velayudham Ganesan: Automotive 

crash & safety analyses with LS- 

DYNA, PAM-CRASH, MADYMO, 

RADIOSS, NVH and durability 

analyses with NASTRAN are currently 

supported best in EASi-PROCESS. 

Pre-defined templates FMVSS201, 

581, 208, ECE-R21, EPVS- 

Body Static Analysis, are 

available to name a 

few. 

EASi-PROCESS for 

CAE automation is 

also suitable for 

certain simulation 

procedures in Aero 

industries. 

PAMTALK: 

What are the specific 

requirements of these 

industries? 

Velayudham Ganesan: These 

industries need standardized 

processes to execute the CAE 

simulation and analysis for repetitive 

tasks with consistency, accuracy and 

productivity. 

Our automated procedure enables to 

execute the standardized process 

resulting in an increase in 

productivity. Furthermore, models are 

insured to be built using corporate 

methodology while eliminating users’ 

errors. 

New users and 

non-specialists 

long for an easy 

to use, intuitive 

environment, 

which needs 

less training 

effort. 

3 

Also, there is a decrease in expertise 

requirements to prepare models and 

process results having standard 

procedures implemented in 

environment. 

This also enables corporate knowhow 

protection when subcontracting 

has to be performed. 

product news 9


Special report 

on Germany 

PAMTALK: ESI GmbH 

celebrated its 25th 

anniversary this year, 

what were the key steps 

and major achievements? 

Stefan Rudolph: ESI GmbH was 

founded in 1979 as the first ESI 

subsidiary. Initially the office was 

established to undertake consultancy 

studies mainly for the nuclear power 

industry in Germany, as well as for the 

civil and military fields. With the decline 

of the nuclear industry a great effort was 

made to enter the important German 

car market in the mid 1980's. In this 

purpose, we undertook specific 

developments in both metal stamping 

and crash analysis fields in close 

collaboration with industrial partners. 

Consequently, from about 1985 ESI 

GmbH played a major role in 

industrializing crashworthiness 

simulation and helping to establish new 

products and markets in Japan, the 

USA and elsewhere. 

“25 years dedicated 

to virtual engineering” 

Interview with Stefan Rudolph 

Managing Director, ESI GmbH 

ESI GmbH 

headquarters 

in Eschborn, near 

Frankfurt/Main 

PAMTALK: Is the 

predominance of the 

automotive industry still 

influencing your current 

activities? 

Stefan Rudolph: ESI GmbH is largely 

focused on the automotive industry but 

is also supporting its customers in the 

aerospace, chemistry, foundry, or heavy 

industries. We are partnering with 

research centers, Fraunhoffer Institutes 

and most of universities in Germany. 

Today the office is heavily involved in 

research work at both European and 

German levels. Most of this work 

concerns improved material failure 

modeling, welding, sheet metal and 

composites forming, composites failure 

analysis and dummy developments. 

Finally, ESI GmbH is actively developing 

specific new options in collaboration 

with ESI Group. For example, in 

addition to the joint work on the H- 

Model, BMW Group has recently 

ordered a “virtual seat comfort testing” 

joint study devoted to the assessment 

and adaptation to its requirements. Our 

research work in advanced composites 

and plastics processes has also 

opened new areas in food industry, 

consumer appliances, carpet 

thermoforming, etc. 

PAMTALK: Could you 

tell us more about your 

projects for the coming 

years? 

Stefan Rudolph: In the current context 

of global economy, our customers are 

under pressure to reduce costs and 

time-to-market, while increasing 

productivity. ESI GmbH has a vital role 

to play by offering reliable and fast 

solutions, able not only to fulfill 

regulations but to help improve 

performances, comfort, aeroacoustics, 

and enhance the product quality. We 

are thus promoting 2G and 3G solutions 

in response to manufacturers’ needs to 

achieve synergies between the various 

types of tests involved in product 

design and manufacturing. Through 

multi-trade value chains such as PAM- 

CRASH / PAM-STAMP coupling or 

PAM-STAMP / SYSWELD chaining, 

German industry leaders will benefit 

from powerful, yet easy-to-use 

solutions enabling to solve even bigger 

problems. Simulation-Based.Design is 

the major challenge for the German 

industry too! 

Starting from 1988 ESI GmbH was also 

actively involved in safety and restraint 

systems’ extensive testing and 

validation studies with German industry. 

We carried out the first dummy specific 

developments up to new EuroSID 

dummies appeared in the early nineties. 

We have also been working on a new, 

more detailed model, in collaboration 

with FAT (Forschungsvereinigung 

Automobiltechnik) working group, a 

consortium supported by the German 

car manufacturers. 

special report 

10 www.esi-group.com


PAM-STAMP 2G helps 

Kirchhoff Automotive design 

car modules ‘right first time’ 

Through PAM-STAMP 2G simulation of the entire stamping process, 

Kirchhoff Automotive achieves its objectives for productivity and high quality. 

Because of ever shorter 

development times, Kirchhoff 

Automotive has to do a solid 

planning of its production 

processes. For more than 100 years 

the company has been developing, 

manufacturing and supplying metal 

structures for the automotive industry 

and has grown to an international 

supplier providing complete car 

modules. “For an exact implementation 

of tool planning we rely on PAM- 

STAMP 2G and PAM-AUTOSTAMP's 

highly effective system to perform 

accurate deep drawing simulations,” 

says Mr. Raimund Teipel, simulations 

manager, Kirchhoff Automotive. 

PAM-AUTOSTAMP deep 

drawing process assessment 

Kirchhoff Automotive produces chassis 

and structural parts for cars and trucks 

as well as a wide variety of deep drawn 

pressed panels for cars. Deep drawing 

consists of stretching sheet metal 

blanks around a punch, which are 

drawn into a die cavity to achieve the 

desired final shape. 

Kirchhoff Automotive makes extensive 

use of PAM-AUTOSTAMP, a 'physics 

based' software for the accurate 

prediction of deep drawing processes. 

PAM-AUTOSTAMP's ease-of-use 

simplifies the modeling process 

allowing the simulation of each stage, 

from the effects of gravity on the blank 

to trimming and flanging. 

Checking wrinkles at each stage of the 

stamping process is very important to 

ensure part quality and safety, which 

are major requirements from Kirchhoff. 


Using PAM-AUTOSTAMP Kirchhoff can 

thus evaluate and predict stresses, 

strains, fractures and geometrical 

imperfections that may occur during 

the deep drawing operation. The user 

is guided through the final validation of 

the forming process, tolerances and 

overall quality control, helping to avoid 

costly and time-consuming 

downstream problems. 

On-line decision-making 

on formability issues 

Kirchhoff takes advantage of PAM- 

AUTOSTAMP’s detailed results for 

validating formability issues and 

predicting subtle issues such as sliplines 

and cosmetic surface defects. 

Kirchoff also models drawbeads very 

accurately, even considering the 

opening effect they have on a 

blankholder, delivering better 

prediction of required press forces. 

PAM-STAMP 2G 

thinning and rupture 

risk prediction 

PAM-STAMP 2G contains 

a wide range of material 

models. These models 

are supported by a 

comprehensive material 

database, which includes many 

aluminum alloys and high strength 

steels, becoming increasingly common 

in automotive component 

manufacturing. 

In this way, Kirchhoff Automotive is 

able to design the 'right first time' 

tooling and to optimize the process. 

“Furthermore we use PAM-STAMP 2G 

in early development phases of a car 

from design to production of 

assemblies. This procedure generates 

significant cost and time reductions,” 

adds Mr. Raimund Teipel, simulations 

manager, Kirchhoff Automotive. 

For the future, Kirchhoff Automotive 

plans to expand its development 

department and to increase its 

structural analysis and crash simulation 

activities. The company is now 

considering the benefit of using PAM- 

CRASH in addition to PAM-STAMP to 

have an easy way to map the results of 

production analysis to crash analysis. 

About Kirchhoff Group 

Deep drawn metal 

structures meeting 

Kirchhoff’s quality 

and safety 

standards 

The Kirchhoff Group is a global player in the automotive components industry 

and is also a producer of high performance tools and waste management 

vehicles. The Group, established in 1785, is owned and managed by the 

Kirchhoff family. 

With more than 2,000 employees and a turnover about 250 Million € 

Kirchhoff operates manufacturing facilities around the world - five in Germany 

and others in Ireland, Hungary, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Mexico and Brazil. Its 

customers include the major automotive companies and it is an accredited 

Tier 1 supplier to Ford, GM, VW/Audi and Daimler Chrysler. 

special report 

11

12 

SUCCESS STORY PRODUCT NEWS SPECIAL REPORT CASTING 


Parallel processing 

with ProCAST 2005 

The new version of the ProCAST solution features parallel 

processing in order to drastically reduce turn around times. 

Cutting costs and 

reducing time to market are 

two of the most pressing 

issues in the foundry 

industry today. Casting process 

simulation helps achieve these goals 

and is now widely used throughout the 

industry for process design, improved 

yield and better casting quality. While 

simplified solutions can be efficiently 

used to quickly evaluate mold filling and 

solidification, the accurate prediction of 

complex flows and metallurgical 

phenomena still requires significant 

computation times. To tackle this issue 

and drastically reduce turn around 

times without any loss of accuracy and 

functionality, parallel processing was 

introduced in the ProCAST 2005 

release. 

DMP vs. SMP 

Different technologies are currently 

available for parallel processing. 

Symmetric Multi Processing (often 

referred to as Shared Memory Parallel 

casting 

processing) is one of them. With SMP, 

specific programming directives are 

added in the software to allow 

computations to be distributed on 

several processors, all processors 

sharing the same memory addresses. 

SMP technology is only available on 

specific hardware platforms and limited 

in terms of the maximum number of 

processors. In practice, it does not 

provide significant speed ups beyond 8 

processors. 

Distributed Memory Parallel (DMP) 

processing is an alternative in which 

each processor accesses its own 

memory. A Message Passing Interface 

(MPI) is however required to distribute 

and share data between the different 

processors. With DMP, it is possible to 

design parallel applications that scale 

to a greater number of processors at 

the expense of substantial 

programming efforts. Because of its 

versatility and potential for very high 

performance, the DMP technology was 

implemented in the ProCAST solvers. 

Schematic representation 

of the Distributed 

Memory Parallel 

processing principle 

Example of domain partitioning 

for a 8 processors thermal simulation 

Model courtesy 

of Rimstock 

Domain decomposition 

To distribute the work on the different 

processors, the Finite Element mesh 

needs to be partitioned in as many 

sub-domains as there are processors. 

This functionality is automatically 

activated in ProCAST and called 

domain decomposition. To be 

efficient, the decomposition needs to 

provide a balanced repartition of the 

workload (load balancing) and a 

minimal interface between the 

different partitions so as to minimize 

the necessary exchange of data 

between the different processors. 

www.esi-group.com


Inter-operability 

and repeatability 

Full inter-operability is provided with 

ProCAST 2005: computations can be 

restarted on a different number of 

processors than what was initially 

used. The repeatability (ability to 

reproduce identical results 

irrespective of the number of 

processors) has also been carefully 

checked. It should however be noted 

that, because floating point operations 

are performed in a different order 

depending on the number of 

processors, the accumulation of 

rounding off errors can lead to small 

result discrepancies. 

Scalability 

The performance of the parallel solver 

depends not only on the size of the 

model and type of application but is 

also very much dependent on the 

hardware configuration. In particular, 

significant differences have been 

noted between Gigabit Ethernet and 

Myrinet interconnect. 

Scalability results reported here were 

obtained on a Linux cluster with 

Gigabit Ethernet interconnect and 

show that speed-ups ranging from 5 

to 6 can be obtained for both filling 

and solidification on 8 processors 

platforms. Much better scalability has 

been recently obtained with Myrinet 

interconnect for up to 16 processors. 

Continuous efforts are being devoted 

to the fine tuning of the software to 

improve the scalability and 

performance. 

Future outlook 

and product roadmap 

The ProCAST 2005 parallel version 

currently includes the main software 

functionalities to simulate mold filling 

and solidification with radiation. Other 

specific software features such as lost 

foam, non-Newtonian flows and 


advanced solidification modules 

including micro-porosity and CAFE 

modules are however not available for 

parallel processing at this stage. 

The stress solver is currently being 

finalized and will be released later 

during 2005 to allow for parallel fully 

coupled thermo-mechanical 

simulations. 

ProCAST 2005 DMP – Scalability for filling simulation 

Speed up factor relative to a single processor run 

ProCAST 2005 DMP – Scalability for a thermal only simulation 

Speed up factor relative to a single processor run 

Model courtesy of Rimstock 

AVAILABILITY 

The ProCAST 2005 parallel version is 

currently available on Linux clusters 

(Redhat 7.3 and Entreprise server), 

as well as UNIX multi-processor 

platforms from IBM and SGI. 

casting 13

14 



PAM-QUIKCAST 2005 speeds up 

casting process evaluation 

PAM-CAST has evolved 

to a new solution for casting 

process evaluation. PAM- 

QUIKCAST 2005, the new 

Finite Difference casting software 

package features dramatic reductions 

in volume meshing and overall 

processing times. 

With an intuitive user interface, an 

enhanced mesh generator, and 

improved filling and solidification 

solvers PAM-QUIKCAST 2005 allows 

for shorter process evaluation and fast 

iterations between different mold 

designs. 

New mesh generator 

performance 

A key factor to obtain accurate results 

with Finite Difference solvers is the 

application of local volume and 

surface correction factors. These 

correction factors are necessary in 

order to compute exact volumes but 

also to apply proper heat transfer and 

boundary conditions on the external 

surfaces of the different volumes 

describing the casting process. The 

computation of surface correction 

factors is by far the most time 

consuming part. To reduce meshing 

times, a new and efficient algorithm 

was implemented to calculate surface 

casting 

AVAILABILITY 

PAM-QUIKCAST 

2005 is available 

on Windows 2000 

and XP platforms, 

as well as UNIX 

workstations from 

HP-Compaq, IBM, 

SGI and Sun. 

From PAM-CAST to PAM-QUIKCAST, 

a new and rebuilt version providing a 

significant reduction of turn around times 

Low pressure die casting simulation of a cylinder head. 

Courtesy: Montupet 

Meshing CPU time 

CPU time for 5 thermal cycles 

Mold filling 

Final solidification 

corrections. While providing the same 

level of accuracy as before, meshing 

times are now reduced to just a few 

minutes for even the most complex 

geometries. 

Improved CPU times 

The filling and solidification solvers 

were also improved in order to shorten 

simulation times. A proper tuning of 

internal solver parameters and 

specific software optimizations on 

Windows platforms result in a overall 

time reduction of a factor 2. This 

improvement is particularly visible on 

mold cycling and solidification 

simulations. 

The above table illustrates 

performances, as compared to the 

previous PAM-CAST release, of the 

new solvers on a large low pressure 

die casting application. CPU times 

indicated here were obtained on a 

standard Windows platform. 

New product features 

A specific new option has been added 

to import not only geometry or grid 

PAM-CAST 

74 mns 

21 h 18 mns 

9 h 25 mns 

4 h 51 mns 

PAM-QUIKCAST 

5 mns 

7 h 59 mns 

6 h 52 mns 

2 h 07 mns 

information but also process 

conditions from a previous model. 

This new feature can be used to 

quickly re-define all process 

parameters from one model to the 

other irrespective of any geometry 

modifications. 

The thermal interpolation menu has 

also been improved to allow for 

various types of temperature 

interpolations. In particular, end of 

filling temperatures interpolation to a 

ProCAST Finite Element model is 

possible to complement the standard 

filling and solidification calculation 

with a thermo-mechanical analysis. 

Two new parameters have been 

added to the definition of the third 

stage pressure effect: a solid fraction 

cut-off value and the time at which the 

pressure is released. The “third stage” 

pressure effect only affects macroporosity 

calculations and can be used 

to account for additional material 

feeding during solidification in high 

pressure die casting as well as low 

pressure die casting applications. The 

solid fraction cut-off value can be 

used to define the extend of the liquid 

network and tuned to account for 

various pressure levels. 

www.esi-group.com



The time at which the pressure is 

released is particularly useful for low 

pressure die casting processes. When 

the calculation reaches this time, all 

the metal connected to the inlet 

through a liquid network is removed 

from the calculation as illustrated in 

the opposite example of a wheel low 

pressure die casting. 

Based on a structured Finite Volume 

technology, PAM-QUIKCAST simulates 

PAM-QUIKCAST 2005 offers numerous 

new pre-processing functionalities 

including: 

■ Shortcuts to mesh quality checks, 

■ Simplified mesh editing tools, 

■ Undo option for manual merging 

operations, 

■ New volume domain selection filter, 

■ Automatic Finite Difference grid 

creation, 

■ Study versions management tools 

(add, change, delete options), 

■ Information on surface areas, 

volumes and weights, 

■ Possibility to define and execute 

several calculations in a batch 

process. 

Les Diablerets, Switzerland - May 22-27, 2005 

For the fourteenth consecutive 

year, Calcom ESI, the ESI 

Group casting business unit, 

is organizing a solidification course 

in collaboration with the Swiss 

Federal Institute of Technology of 

Lausanne (EPFL). During one 

week, courses and exercises will 

be presented by renowned 

lecturers from Swiss, French, 

Austrian and the US universities. 

Dedicated to metallurgists and 

foundry engineers, this course is 

orientated towards the application 

of solidification theories to 

industrial casting processes. The 

macroscopic aspects of the 

processes (transfer phenomena) 


a wide range of processes 

such as gravity die casting, 

low and high pressure die 

casting including semisolid 

materials. The new 

version completes ESI 

Group's casting portfolio 

which includes ProCAST, 

and CALCOSOFT, for fast 

and efficient modeling of 

continuous casting 

processes. 

New pre-processing features New post-processing features 

PAM-QUIKCAST 2005 offers numerous 

new post-processing functionalities 

including: 

■ Graphics display of distance 

information, 

■ Possibility to refer to a color scale, 

■ New sectioning algorithm without 

“stair” effect, 

■ Curve display of averaged quantities 

for multiple element selections, 

■ Result files management tools 

(extraction, concatenation of postprocessing 

files), 

■ New raster file output in jpeg format, 

■ Solidification output frequency 

defined as a function of solidification 

rate, 

■ Possibility to switch from one study 

version to the other without reloading 

the model. 

Solidification course 2005 

are addressed together with the 

formation of microstructures and 

defects (microscopic phenomena). 

Connection between macroscopic 

and microscopic aspects, such as 

the prediction of microstructures 

and defects as a function of 

process parameters, will also 

be emphasized. Exercises, 

discussions, films and computer 

demonstrations are organized in 

order to apply, practice and 

visualize the contents of the 

lectures. Due to the limited number 

of participants (maximum 40), 

interaction between the 

participants and the seven 

lecturers will allow an optimum 

transfer of knowledge. 

Liquid fraction before releasing 

the pressure 

Central section of a wheel 

Finally, private or group 

discussions can take place during 

social hours and evenings in order 

to treat more specific problems 

which the participants may 

encounter. 

Since its first edition in 1992, the 

course has gathered 417 

Liquid fraction just after releasing 

the pressure 

PAM-QUIKCAST 2005 user interface 

Solidification course, annual event held in the heart of the Swiss Alps 

participants coming from 161 

companies distributed in 25 

countries representing all 5 

continents. 

Registration form, full program 

and further details are available 

on www.calcom.ch 

casting 

15

16 



ESI Group’s casting 

solutions gain ground 

in South America 

Four new customers choose ESI Group’s 

casting simulation software 

Teksid do Brazil grey 

and nodular iron 

castings for the 

automotive industry 

casting 

Four established 

industries and institutes have 

recently shown their 

confidence in ESI Group to 

meet their casting simulation needs. 

The company is present through one 

regional technical support office and 

three agents located respectively in 

Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela. Based 

in Sao Paolo, ESI Group South America 

has started to market the casting 

simulation software range across major 

South American countries in January 

2003. 

Instituto Nacional de 

Tecnología Industrial 

A scientific and educational 

collaboration agreement between INTI 

and ESI Group was finalized in 

September 2004, with the help of ESI 

Group's Argentinean agent, Brignone & 

Asociados. The scope of the 

agreement is to share technology 

between ESI Group and INTI, to 

present common publications in 

technical congresses and to share 

software enhancement. 

In this context, INTI-Mecánica (Centro 

de Investigación y Desarrollo en 

Mecánica), an operative unit of INTI, 

based in Buenos Aires, will now use 

PAM-QUIKCAST to support the 

Argentinean industry willing to 

modernize its production tools. 

Teksid do Brasil 

Teksid do Brasil Ltda, one of the biggest 

iron foundries selected PAM- 

QUIKCAST as its casting simulation 

software. Always searching for 

excellence, Teksid do Brasil aims to 

better serve its customers, amongst 

whom Fiat, DC, Renault, VW, to name 

a few. After careful analysis of existing 

software on the market, Teksid do Brasil 

came to the conclusion that PAM- 

QUIKCAST is an efficient tool with 

respect to their needs. PAM-QUIKCAST 

will be used for the simulation of 

medium and large grey and nodular iron 

castings, such as differential cases, 

exhaust manifolds, flywheels, steering 

knuckles, front suspension arms, 

crankshafts, cylinder blocks 

for cars, cylinder blocks for 

industrial vehicles, cylinder 

heads for industrial 

vehicles, front brake discs, 

rear brake drums, rear 

suspension arms. 

Acotecnica 

Located in the 

neighborhood of Sao 

Paolo, Brazil, Acotecnica is 

a high-tech foundry 

producing 900 tons per 

year of casting, amongst 

which 170 tons of vacuum 

From left to right: Alfredo Naucevich (INTI), 

Dr Raúl Abelardo Mingo (INTI), 

Eduardo S. Brignone (Brignone & Asociados), 

Dr Marco Gremaud (Calcom ESI), 

Arthur Camanho (ESI Group South America) 

casting. Acotecnica has just adopted 

ProCAST to model investment casting, 

due to its unique capacities and topclass 

references in the field. 

Dana S.H Fundiciones 

Finally Dana S.H Fundiciones located 

in Venezuela is now equipped with 

ProCAST to support its state-of-the-art 

technology, allowing the company to 

potentially produce up to 50,000 tons 

per year that makes it the largest 

ductile iron casting company in Latin 

America. Having considered available 

casting simulation software, Dana is 

convinced that ProCAST simulation 

results are the only one which match 

experimental results. For ProCAST use, 

Dana S.H Fundiciones will receive 

support from ESI Group’s agent, AT 

Group located in Caracas, Venezuela. 

Flowability test model 

Courtesy of Dana S.H Foundiciones 

www.esi-group.com


ESI Group participates in the following events: 

Date Event Place 

April 5-7 MICAD 2005 

April 16-19 CASTEXPO 

May 1-5 SAMPE New Horizons for Materials and Processing Technology Long Beach, CA (USA) 

May 16-19 SAE Noise & Vibration Conference Traverse City, MI (USA) 

May 25-26 5th European LS-DYNA Users conference Birmingham (UK) 

June 14-16 SAE Digital Human Modeling for Design and Engineering Iowa City, IA (USA) 

June 20-22 IDDRG 2005 

June 29-July 2 nd 

First joint exposition of the American Foundry Society 

and the North American Die Casting Association. 

Innovations in Deep Drawing New trends in industries: 

from simulations to applications 

St Louis, MO (USA) 

April 18-21 NOVEM Noise & Vibration Conference St Raphaël (France) 

Information and registration on www.esi-group.com 

24th international Exhibitions for CAD/CAM, Tools and methodologies 

for product design, manufacture and lifecycle management 

Paris (France) 

April 5-7 JEC 2005 Composites Show Paris (France) 

April 11-14 SAE World Congress SAE 2005 World Congress celebrates the Society's centennial Detroit, MI (USA) 

Besançon, France 

6th China Int’l Exhibition of Die Casting, Casting and Industrial Furnace Guangzhou (China) 

Official inauguration of ESI Group’s 

Software Product Development 

Center in Bangalore, India 

ESI Software India will play a key role in developing the Open VTOS, 

a visual environment platform for ESI Group's 2G and 3G solutions 

ESI Software India 

premises at 

Banashankari II Stage, 

South Bangalore 

ESI Group plans 

to invest $5 million on its 

Indian development center 

and to ramp it up to over 90 

engineers over the next couple of years. 

This was the key announcement made 

by Alain de Rouvray, Chairman and 

Chief Executive Officer, ESI Group, 

during the press conference held in 

Bangalore. 

The company formally 

inaugurated its Indian 

subsidiary on December 1st, 

2004. The wholly-owned 

Indian subsidiary was 

created in February 2004, 

following the acquisition of 

EASi USA's Mechanical 

Computer Aided 

Engineering (MCAE) 

intellectual property rights 

in September 2003. A suite 

of industry-proven 

simulation environments for 

crashworthiness, safety, NVH, 

durability and process analyses has 

thus been added to ESI Group's MCAE 

portfolio. 

ESI Software India Pvt Ltd will be a truly 

software product development 

company dedicated to market 

requirements collection, product 

definition, design, implementation, 

validation and shipping. The nature of 

work represents the high end of the 

value chain encompassing all aspects 

of software product development. 

Currently, the Indian subsidiary is 

focusing on the development of the 

Open VTOS based on EASi-VISTA, an 

Alain de Rouvray’s address 

during the press conference 

gathering ten journalists 

from Indian and international 

magazines 

object-oriented development platform 

for CAD/CAE. This technology has 

been developed in India during over the 

last 10 years. “Open VTOS technology 

will significantly reduce the 

development of environments for 

computer aided analysis of engineering 

systems with complex graphical 

interface,” says Nagesh L. Bysani, 

Managing Director, ESI Software India. 

The inauguration of ESI Software India 

which is presently employing a team of 

36 high level engineers, is laying solid 

foundations for the implementation of a 

realistic and open CAE simulation 

environment strengthening the group's 

virtual engineering solutions. 

events 

18 www.esi-group.com



New sales activities and distribution of EASi-CRASH 

products in Germany by ESI GmbH 

From March 1st, 2005 ESI Group 

is pleased to inform that the 

newly founded OPEN VTOS sales 

and support team at ESI GmbH is 

represented by Mrs. Andrea 

Gittens and Mr. Michael Sommer. 

Andrea Gittens is responsible for 

business development of EASi- 

CRASH and Visual-CRASH 

products in Germany, Switzerland 

and Austria. 

What’s new at 

www.esi-group.com? 

Full details about Simulation 

Process Management and EASi 

CAE software portfolio are 

available from the products section. 

The new visual Environment page 

gives a good overview of Visual-Crash 

for PAM, Visual-Process, Visual- 

Viewer and the systems requirements. 

The PAM-STAMP 2G section has been 

entirely reshaped. The website now 

displays 8 sections which go over 

important technical data as well as 

key benefits of the software. PAM- 

STAMP 2G, PAM-DIEMAKER, PAM- 

QUIKSTAMP, PAM-AUTOSTAMP, 

Stamping professional pack and 

Automatic Meshing and Filleting 

brochures are easily downloadable 

from this website. Also, you will find a 

new press release on the CORUS-ESI 

Group partnership which highlights 


Technical support of EASi-CRASH and 

Visual-CRASH is available through 

Michael Sommer. 

ESI Group has made the acquisition of the 

intellectual property rights of EASi’s CAE software 

and it’s flagship product, EASi-CRASH in 

September 2003. This acquisition allowed ESI 

Group to offer a common user environment as 

well as simulation design and control tools for the 

automotive industry. EASi-CRASH products 

include model building, results evaluation against 

regulatory requirements and design comparisons. 

the benefits of the newly integrated 

Corus-Vegter model. 

Do not miss the opportunity to book 

the dates of the next ESI Group 

conferences and exhibitions. 

Upcoming PAM events are listed on 

the home page; more information will 

soon be available. 

Finally, the latest issues of ESI 

Group's electronic newsletters “News 

on-line” and PamTalk are posted at 

the bottom of the page for download 

or on-line subscription. 

Please come and visit the 

ESI Group homepage frequently 

to get the latest news. 

If you have any suggestions, 

please do not hesitate to use the 

info@esi-group.com e-mail address 

or the contact web page. 

FY2004 Sales up 19% to EUR 58,3M 

in line with expectations. 

License sales up 26%. 

ESI Group FY2004 sales came to EUR 58.3 million, up 19% from 

the year before. This significant performance was achieved 

despite the negative impact of exchange rates. Organic growth 

came at 9% at constant exchange rates, significantly up from the 3% 

recorded from the previous financial year. Accounting for 10% of the 

Group’s sales, acquisitions effectively continued to boost overall 

growth. 

Licenses growth 

The license business turned in strong growth of 29% at constant 

exchange rates. 

Organic growth was 12%, helped by an evenly balanced contribution 

from all geographical areas. Renewal rate of license sales remained 

at a stably high level, driving a significant increase of the recurrent 

installed base, up 24% from FY2003. 

Turnaround of Services to organic growth in H2 

The trend of the Service business turned around in the second half, 

helped by a growing order backlog on the back of the two new 

pluriannual casting projects cofinanced by the European Economic 

Community and the Swiss Confederation, in addition to the projects 

signed in the third quarter in the United States and Europe (regarding 

Vibro-Acoustic and management of simulation processes). 

Breakdown of sales 

The geographical breakdown of sales is as follows: 18% for America, 

35% for Asia and 47 % for Europe. Organic growth in Asia generated 

a 13% increase in sales volumes, demonstrating the relevance of the 

Group’s international strategy, inter alia reflected in its new 

subsidiaries in China and India. 

The breaking continued in new sectors such as Electronic 

components, Energy, Defense, Aerospace, manufacturing industries. 

Transportation currently accounts for 45% of annual orders. 

Alain de ROUVRAY, ESI Group’s Chairman and CEO, concluded: 

“2004 ushered in a new period of maturity for ESI Group, reflected 

first in the return to significant organic growth. Despite a persistently 

negative currency effect, ESI Group was able to make the most of an 

improving economic environment, high recurrent license sales and a 

very strong position with major customers. The new version of its 

PAM-CRASH and PAM-SAFE products remained a growing success 

with users, more than ever showing ESI Group’s global leadership in 

the safety segment of the transportation market. Helped by the 

impact of synergies, the emerging products resulting from the recent 

acquisitions (VASci and ProCAST) turned in strong, higher-thanaverage 

growth. Confirmation of two innovative new projects 

tweaked the turnaround of the Services business in the second half. 

Lastly, IBM’s strong interest in virtual simulation and the gradual 

adoption of our products in new sectors are significant confirmation 

of the relevance of the Group’s strategy as a multi-discipline 

specialist in virtual simulation and the credibility of our medium and 

long-term objectives”. 

corporate 19

HP Workstation c8000 

Extreme UNIX power, whisper quiet 

The HP Workstation c8000 is a 64-bit workstation that brings 

2-way and 4-way computing power to the desktop, supports 

the latest industry-leading AGP 8X graphics and is compatible 

with existing HP-UX application environments. 

The HP c8000 is designed to address the most demanding technical workloads in 

automotive, aerospace and electronic design enterprises, with four times the processor 

and memory I/O bandwidth and 25 percent lower memory latency of previous 

generation PA-RISC workstations. It is ideal for handling the complexities of large 

model, system assemblies, design analysis and simulations. The HP c8000 also 

features breakthrough graphics performance with industry-standard AGP 8X graphics 

on a UNIX workstation. No longer are you captive to antiquated, proprietary graphics 

cards that trail industry innovation. 

For more information, visit www.hp.com/workstations 

Screen image courtesy of Dassault Systemes 

Introducing 

extreme 

UNIX power 

HP Workstation c8000 

2 or 4-way system using dual core 

PA-8800 processor modules at 900 MHz 

or 1.0 GHz with 32 MB of L2 cache 

HP Scalable Processor Chipset zx1 

HP-UX 11i TCOE or HP-UX 11i MTOE 

Up to 16 GB PC2100 registered 

ECC DDR-266 

ATI FireGL T2-128p and ATI FireGL X1-256p 

AGP-8X graphics 

© 2004 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty 

statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.

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