We advance CAE technology and combine it with creative teams in a culture that embraces exploration. We rethink the conventional paradigms of design & validate, style & engineer, and build & fix. In this blog we'll explore how our customers use our technology to innovate, track simulation trends and meet some of the people that develop HyperWorks or deliver projects for Product Design.

Welcome to "Simulate to Innovate"

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  Bob Yancey, Executive Director - Global Aerospace

  Years at Altair: 12

  Specialty: Aerospace Business Development

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  I vividly remember watching the Apollo moon landing as a young boy and then the first Shuttle landing as a High School student and those 2 events inspired me to go into the Aerospace field. I received my Aero/Astro degree from MIT and decided to focus my graduate education on composite materials and mechanics. I spent many years working on-site at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio, the birthplace of aviation. What I enjoy most is making connections between technology, people, and solutions. In my current role, I get to meet many individuals throughout the world involved in the Aerospace industry and it is exciting for me to learn of their successes and challenges and connect them with solutions that can help them design the Aerospace systems of the future.

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  Dave Simon, President of ilumisys

  Years at Altair: 14

  Specialty: Engineering

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  A career that has allowed me to work with analytical methods, advanced design, tooling, product development, research and manufacturing is best described by the term engineering, a word that has lost none of its thrill for me. I am a lifelong Michigander and privileged (with thanks to my bride of 25 years) to spend a lot of my free time sailing and windsurfing on the Great Lakes. Our three children are young adults and as we watch them make life decisions it is interesting to see how often economic and environmental sustainability are aligned. Really good design tends to quietly accomplish things for consumers without making things miserable for other people. Perhaps as engineers we will have truly succeeded at “green” when it is expected and not noticed by the world at large, in much the same way that the global marketplace simply expects things to be safe, affordable and perform well.

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  Detlef Schneider, Senior Vice President – Solver products

  Years at Altair: 14

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  Since high end technology has fascinated me since the early days, I decided to get my degree in mechanical engineering at the University of Karlsruhe, Germany. Even though simulation technology was not part of the curriculum at that time, somehow most of the work I did during studies was linked with numerical simulation in different fields. Right after I received my degree, I joined a tiny company called Altair in 1997. I started to support our optimization technology and grew with Altair in various support and sales roles. In August 2011, I moved with my family to the beautiful city of Irvine, California, and took on a new challenge within Altair on the solver development side. I am excited to take our leading edge simulation technology to the next level and ensure that we continue to be a market leader in CAE.

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  Royston Jones, President, Altair ProductDesign

  Years at Altair: 13

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  My name is Royston Jones and I have been at Altair thirteen years. I was born in the green valleys of North Wales and eventually left my village for the bright lights of South Wales; Swansea University. It was there I was eventually persuaded to help the English with their engineering and left the principality. It’s been a great thrill seeing my passion, engineering simulation, gradually increase its impact on the design process. However, a bigger thrill has been seeing Manchester United dominate English football for two decades. I enjoy seeing my boys grow up and I am excited about how engineering simulation has become a key technology in creating highly engineered; Green products.

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  Tony Norton, Senior Director, Global Automotive at Altair Engineering

  Years at Altair: 15

  Specialty: Automotive

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  I grew up in England, but for the past 12 years I’ve lived in Michigan. I’ve always loved cars, and talking about them, which is great because I now get to do that for a living. My job allows me to interact with engineers across the world at the established OEMs, emerging manufacturers and throughout the supply base. Despite (and maybe to some extent because of) all of the recent turmoil, the automotive industry is as fascinating as ever and continues to apply more technology to keep passengers safe, the planet sustainable and deliver improved performance in multiple attributes. I used to race cars in my spare time, but now I spend most of my time away from work just trying keep up with my kids!