SIMULIA's Michelle Ash: about 400 of 800 R&D staff on physics solvers

SIMULIA's pitch rests on a layered logic. The base is a set of physics-based solvers — Abaqus, PowerFLOW, CST, Simpack, Wave6 — which the company says it continues to evolve. Ash used the staffing breakdown to counter internal community discussion that investment in the physics foundation was being reduced, saying roughly half of the about 800 R&D staff, about 400 people, work on physics and solvers. Her argument is that high-accuracy AI for industry needs accurate physics underneath, so solver output is what makes the upper layers work.

The second layer, MODSIM, is meant to let designers verify their own designs in real time and see how they would perform in the real world, so that downstream analysis specialists can proceed with more confidence that designs meet requirements. The company says it has put about 150 people into MODSIM enhancements and that many users are already seeing marked improvements.

On top sits AI, which Ash framed not as a technology trend but as something aimed at industrialization in real manufacturing and design work, tied to the long-term 3D UNIV+RSES vision. That concept goes beyond a single product's virtual model: it aims to connect multiple virtual twins so a company can follow a product from drop or heat testing, through supplier materials and parts, factory process optimization, consumer use, and end-of-life collection and recycling as one universe. Ash says seeing all these elements at the design stage could cut product costs, shorten development cycles, and better capture customer requirements.