MSC Software Corporation

Overview:
With the help of MSC Software Professional Services and products such as ADAMS/Durability and FE-Fatigue, John Deere Welland Works completed the design and testing of their new rotary cutter system within two weeks instead of several months. Thanks to the implementation of durability analysis, John Deere could reduce the number of the required physical prototypes and was able to try out several design concepts. As a result, the total development time on one cutter was reduced from four years to two, and John Deere is on track to produce another cutter in one year.One of the most time-consuming aspects of the cutter systems’ development in the past was the lengthy process of building physical prototypes, testing them for durability, then redesigning several parts and starting all over again. Utilizing ADAMS/Durability enabled complete integration of key virtual prototyping techniques such as finite element analysis, multibody simulation, and fatigue life prediction. The implementation of durability analysis at John Deere Welland Works was one of the key factors in reducing development time for their rotary cutter systems.Development on a 20-foot cutter was reduced from about four years to two, and most recently, to one year. Compressing the time cycle also meant that the company was able to evaluate many more design concepts than previously possible, which leads to more innovative approaches.