Large manufacturing enterprises have been using HPC capabilities for decades. Today, however, companies of all sizes are discovering the benefits HPC can bring their organization.

At a recent design and manufacturing show, for example, attendees representing companies of all sizes came to learn more about HPC and related technologies that can have a positive impact on their business.

Exhibits, demonstrations, and technical sessions at the conference focused on such topics as the Internet of Things (IoT), computing at the edge, and HPC in the Cloud. One exhibit centered on the use of HPC for additive manufacturing, which involves the 3D printing of prototypes early in the design process. The process helps to ensure that the component is the right size, and functionally correct before production begins.

Increasingly, manufacturing companies implement engineering simulations, modeling, and 3D design workload capabilities on premise. While some enterprise-level manufacturers tap the power of their large-scale HPC implementations, smaller HPC systems support commonly-used applications like Ansys Mechanical*, FLUENT*, LS-DYNA* or other open source software. Others are turning to HPC Cloud providers such as Amazon Web Services* or Microsoft Azure* for help.

With the democratization of HPC, the manufacturing industry is approaching an inflection point which Intel refers to as “HPC for Everyone.” The cost-effectiveness and accessibility of HPC systems and services drive broadening adoption for manufacturers of all sizes.

HPC implementation is a step-by-step, iterative process. For most manufacturers, the substantial value from HPC derives from the collection of raw data generated by IoT-enabled tools and other critical systems. HPC-driven big data analysis can use that data to determine what role the data will play in your manufacturing workflow and ensure that the data is accurate and up to date. This constant collection and analysis of data allows the system to automatically make real-time adjustments to tools at any point along the line, resulting in improved product quality, faster time to market, and increased competitiveness. Each manufacturer has unique needs from HPC-enabled systems, and the scale of implementation can vary widely with the scope and complexity of products.

Companies implementing HPC should prepare to work with very large data sets. For example, one of Intel’s customers processes 25,000 data points per second to predict and improve the reliability of their manufacturing flow. Another enterprise, which has deployed a substantial inventory of distributed devices, is processing 450M data points per second. Intel is also helping to automate a factory by collecting over five billion data points a day for analysis and decision making.

In an application involving automotive crash testing, we are examining 10M data points per modeling run. In this case, scaling our HPC clusters up to 64 nodes provides optimal performance to run the data to meet the customer’s needs.

Another project – the development of the world’s first autonomous shipping platform – will use HPC to process the volumes of data continuously generated by devices sensing weather conditions, tide levels, wave points, visual data and the condition of a variety of onboard systems.

While many organizations today have an extensive HPC implementation tailored to their needs, others starting out with HPC seek a simplified solution. For smaller-scale needs, working with an “HPC in the Cloud” provider like Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, or Rescale can provide an effective option.

Alternately, for companies seeking a more turnkey on-premise HPC solution, Intel® Select Solutions offer a way for manufacturers to purchase pre-configured, pre-validated, workload optimized systems offered through OEMs, system providers, and ISV partners. Intel® Select Solutions for Simulation and Modeling and Intel® Select Solutions for Professional Visualization are tailored for their respective mission-critical workloads and accelerated deployment to jumpstart a manufacturer’s HPC implementation.

With so many accessible options for HPC available to manufacturers today “HPC for Everyone,” is a realistic goal.

Learn more about Intel Select Solutions.

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