Case Study: Selle Royal Group achieves optimized, defect-free saddle foaming and faster development with Altair Inspire PolyFoam

Transforming saddle manufacturing With advanced foam simulation

Selle Royal Group, a leading Italian bicycle saddle manufacturer, needed faster, more accurate ways to design and validate polyurethane-foamed saddles to avoid costly iterations and production defects. The company turned to Altair and its Inspire PolyFoam solution to address key foaming variables—foam properties, temperature, mold motion, and injection timing—and reduce reliance on time-consuming experimental testing.

Altair implemented a three-step Inspire PolyFoam workflow—validating virtual vs. experimental cup tests, optimizing injection patterns and mold motions, and running parameter variation studies. Using Altair’s simulations Selle Royal identified short-shots and weld-line defects, determined the critical injection mass to balance fill quality and waste reduction, and dramatically cut physical testing. The result was faster design cycles, significant time and cost savings, and expanded access to additional tools via Altair Units.

Selle Royal Group

Marco Malfatti

R&D Director