Case Study: Dana achieves dramatic pre‑processing time savings and improved meshing convergence with Altair's SimLab

Dana Adopts Altair’s SimLab to Automate Meshing of Powertrain Models with Dramatic Time Savings

Dana Holding Corporation, a global leader in driveline, sealing and thermal-management technologies, faced long pre‑processing times when turning large CAD powertrain models into analysis-ready meshes—often taking one to four days—hindering its shift to a first‑time‑right design methodology. To address this, Dana evaluated and selected Altair’s SimLab meshing automation as the vendor solution to streamline CAD‑to‑analysis workflows.

Altair implemented SimLab to import native geometry, automate geometry cleanup, meshing, contact creation and post‑processing tasks, and provided training plus reusable templates for consistent meshes across Dana’s sites. The result: pre‑processing time dropped from up to four days to roughly two–four hours per model, many product lines now run CAD‑to‑analysis‑to‑prototype on 100% (others 85–90%), and Dana reports better convergence on large models and faster, more repeatable analysis thanks to Altair’s SimLab.

Dana

Rohit Ramkumar

Manager, CAE Group