Prototype development: the benefits of Moxoff’s virtual prototyping

The development of a virtual prototype allows manufacturing companies to study the characteristics and behaviour of a physical product before it is made, through the creation of a 3D digital model. Thanks to simulation software, it is possible to test the object, examine various options and optimise all details in advance, sending only the best and most effective version into production. This improves the quality and time-to-market of the product and minimises the risk of failure.

Moxoff, a company founded in 2010 as a Polytechnic University of Milan spin-off and now part of the Zucchetti group, offers companies services for the development of virtual prototypes, combining mathematical and computer skills.

Why use virtual prototyping?

In a business environment that moves at an increasingly frenetic pace, manufacturers must arrive on the market before the competition and offer products of superior quality. Moxoff’s virtual prototyping services can help companies achieve their desired goals by resolving some specific needs.

Typically, companies turn to Moxoff with a particular need: for example, to reduce the time and costs associated with the development of a product or to improve its efficiency. It is therefore a question of integrating the simulation component to improve a process already in place for the design of an existing object.

The goal is to optimise the metrics under observation (time-to-market, manufacturing costs, product quality and so forth) according to the wishes expressed by the customer.

After clearly identifying the business needs, in the initial stages of the consultancy, the Moxoff professionals clarify what product and process information the customer has access to.

The development of a virtual prototype starts from two types of data sets:

1. quantitative information on the product specifications, which come from pre-existing designs (for example, geometries and models created with CAD software);
2. historical data collected by the company, concerning, for example, previously conducted tests or analyses of different user experiences.

Moxoff’s differential value lies in its ability to manage and exploit both categories of information and sources, drawing directly on internal skills without any need to consult external specialists.

The advantages of Moxoff’s virtual prototyping

Thanks to its multidisciplinary team, Moxoff is able to offer virtual prototyping services that allow the customer to test new designs and define the optimal product configuration much more quickly, by creating multiple scenarios and evaluating various options.

In short, the simulation allows product time-to-market to be accelerated, because it reduces the need to build physical prototypes to verify the effectiveness of ideas and projects. All the variables relating to the characteristics and behaviour of objects can be studied through specific software, shortening the time required to fine-tune and test the most effective prototype.

While the goal of reducing development times and costs is common to the majority of cases, the levels of approximation and speed of the simulations vary according to the applications and sectors.

We could take the example of a digital twin, which is a virtual representation of a complex system such as an industrial plant. Simulation software collects inputs from the real world through sensors placed on physical objects, and then monitors the existing conditions, reconstructing the overall functioning of the system and predicting its behaviour as events change. In this case, a very high simulation speed is clearly required to obtain reliable results and effective control over the system.

In other cases, such as the evaluation of prototype designs, the speed of iteration, and therefore the usability of the simulations, is critical in order to speed up the product development process as much as possible.

Therefore, the choice of simulation tool requires preliminary analysis of the problem by specialised personnel, such as those offered by Moxoff.

In any circumstance, however, Moxoff’s virtual prototyping covers all the specific needs of the company, allowing a reduction in engineering costs and product completion times. This is thanks to a team of professionals that includes data scientists and simulation experts, together with the technical coordination of highly qualified project managers.