Simulation Software Suppliers Are Delivering Robust Tools, but Falling Short on Implementation Guidance

Simulation software is an increasingly strategic tool as manufacturers look to shorten product development cycles, expand design exploration, and manage growing product complexity. To address these priorities, innovation across simulation software over the past 6 months has been geared toward improving speed, democratizing simulation access, and integrating domains. Examples of recent product updates include:

• Ansys improves handoffs between flagship products (March 2026) to tighten cross-domain workflows.
• MathWorks releases Simulink Copilot (April 2026) to improve model explainability in model-based systems engineering.
• Siemens integrates Simsolid into Designcenter (June 2026) to streamline data transfer and remove meshing requirements.
• Synopsys releases Multiphysics Fusion solutions (July 2026), combining multiphysics with Electronic Design Automation (EDA).

Collectively, these updates indicate how simulation vendors are aiming to reduce friction between domains, lower expertise thresholds, and quicken product development times. As suppliers focus on delivering greater democratization and integration of simulation tools, though, customers are grappling with the changes to people and processes necessary to capitalize on modern simulation software.

Design and engineering workflows today are iterative and constrained: Computer-Aided Design (CAD) specialists typically outnumber simulation experts 10:1 and reliance on intermittent feedback slows product development. Recent innovation in simulation software—focused on accessibility and cross-domain integration—targets the inflexibility of the current product development system. The intention is to reduce reliance on simulation experts with simulation workflows that are quick, interactive, and produce results point toward optimized design decisions across domains.

To take advantage of modern simulation tools, however, design and engineering teams must change. Greater simulation accessibility changes how simulation experts provide value—from being hands-on with each simulation run to focusing more on methodology and oversight of Artificial Intelligence (AI)-assisted workflows. Similarly, design engineers will engage more directly with simulation results earlier in the design process. The result is reduced handoffs between discrete teams, but also a requirement for revised workflows and team responsibilities.

The onus is on suppliers to define, communicate, and operationalize adoption frameworks, not just deliver new features. While vendors have made meaningful progress in producing faster, more accessible, and more integrated simulation tools, qualitative insights into how customers should adapt people and processes are less robust.

Importantly, suppliers must create guidelines for the modern product design and simulation workflow. The guidelines should illustrate how design and simulation personas must change—from disparate teams to more generalist designers supported by AI. As personas change, so must workflows, and suppliers must articulate how a design should be practically created and validated as tools improve simulation speed, accessibility, and convergence of domains. Developing and communicating this guideline will improve the success of new tool adoption, elevate transparency with customers, and clarify the direction of future product improvements.

The transition to new design and simulation workflows will be incremental. Manufacturers will not upend entire product design workflows at once; instead, they will adopt new simulation capabilities through pilots tied to specific teams, products, or bottlenecks. Therefore, suppliers must help customers create Return on Investment (ROI) in early deployments and translate those successes into scalable change. Vendors that support phased implementation will be best positioned to move beyond feature-only competition to helping customers operationalize at scale.