Rolls-Royce Germany Partners with Altair to Democratize Data

Altair and Rolls-Royce Germany formed a strategic partnership in March 2021 to improve the firm’s design processes by applying Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) to its engineering test data. For Rolls-Royce Germany, the objective of the partnership is to accelerate and improve the decision-making process for its engineers by combining Altair’s simulation and data analytics tools together. Altair will work with Roll-Royce Germany to help the firm improve its AI modelling and application of data science and algorithms to support use cases, including developing synthetic data to be used for ML. In addition, Altair will create additional features in its software applications in order to make the use cases successful.

Designing interfaces that can accommodate daily and occasional users is now a priority for suppliers. Data scientists and simulations engineers are no longer the only roles that require employees to utilize data analytics and simulation software, with production plant engineers and machine technicians required to analyze and evaluate different scenarios.

Rolls-Royce’s IntelligentEngine concept has been used to create the next generation of the Trent Engines that go into the Airbus A330, A340, A350, and A380, and the Boeing 777 and 787 Dreamliner. The concept encompasses integrating analytics as well as computer-aided design and 3D printing to create a system where design recommendations can be made continuously, including during concept design, prototyping, testing, engineering, and production. Rolls-Royce anticipates that the next generation of Trent Engines, which will become available later this decade, will improve fuel efficiency by 25%.

Altair is looking to progress how Rolls-Royce Germany’s engineers gain business value from data emanating from the production line and engines in operation. Altair already provides Rolls-Royce Germany with HyperWorks, the company’s solution for finite element analysis, and OptiStruct for topology optimization. In order to generate detailed insights concerning engines’ structural system behavior, Rolls-Royce Germany will utilize Altair's data analytics solution Knowledge Works so that engineers can apply ML methods utilizing simulation data, test data, manufacturing data, and operational data. Knowledge Works’s low-code/no-code environment should assist non-data scientists to build ML models, validate designs, and share knowledge across the company.

Altair’s Knowledge Works’s ML models help clients perform predictive maintenance, root cause analysis, and process optimization by defining the rules and parameters of the product’s performance and then connecting Knowledge Works to customers’ PLCs, SCADA system, MES system, and/or video cameras. The collection of real-time data and assimilation of historical data means that Rolls-Royce can perform physics-based simulations while an engine is in service and validate the new engine designs at the concept phase. Again, the low- or no-code technology supports Rolls-Royce to expand the use of ML and AI to more staff.

ABI Research forecasts that manufacturers and industrial firms will spend US$19.8 billion to transform and support their IIoT data analytics value chains by 2026.[1] Data from the field, such as failure mode analysis, and the production line can now be accommodated earlier in decision-making processes, but will require some customers to adjust their operating culture. Having solutions available that can share insights across teams will be worthless if engineering teams do not factor them into their thinking. In their rush to widen the utilization of data analytics and to create digital threads, industrial and manufacturing firms risk forgetting the human element.

Rolls-Royce has recognized this potential risk, and in 2017, created its R2 Data Labs. The organization is staffed with data experts from design, engineering, and manufacturing backgrounds and is tasked with creating data applications that improve operational efficiencies within Rolls-Royce and also new customer propositions. There are R2 Data Labs in the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, Singapore, India, and New Zealand. One aspect of the Labs is the Digital Academy, which not only provides digital skills training but also looks to help staff appreciate the role that data insights can have in their projects. Furthermore, in order to provide confidence in data analytics and encourage usage, Rolls-Royce has created its Aletheia Framework toolkit, which looks to check for biases in AI-based decisions and help staff to appreciate the assumptions behind the analytical models.

Altair isn’t the only supplier looking to help manufacturers and industrial firms incorporate physics simulations in their operations. Suppliers such as Ansys, Autodesk, CreateASoft with Simcad Pro, Dassault Systèmes’s SIMULIA software, Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division, and Siemens (Simcenter) are all looking to help their customers avoid costly mistakes. All of these suppliers are included in ABI Research’s forthcoming Simulation Software Competitor Ranking.

[1] ABI Research report Data Management in Industrial Applications (AN-5116)