ESI’s German subsidiary celebrates its 30th anniversary

Paris, France – ESI Group, a supplier of digital simulation software for prototyping and manufacturing processes, announced today the 30th anniversary of its German subsidiary, ESI GmbH, the first subsidiary established outside of France. ESI GmbH has enabled ESI to add to its customer portfolio such prestigious names as Volkswagen Group, BMW Group and Audi AG.

ESI GmbH was founded in 1979, six years after ESI’s creation. The office, initially located in Frankfurt, was first established to allow ESI to undertake consultancy studies for the nuclear, civil and military industries in Germany. Most ESI GmbH employees worked not in the main office but at customer sites such as KWU in Offenbach and Erlangen, GRS in Köln or Interatom GmbH in Bensberg.

During the mid 1980‘s, the military and nuclear activities declined and a great effort was made to enter the booming German car market. ESI focused first on non-linear implicit analysis using the implicit FE code PAM-NL and crash analysis using a new explicit Finite Element code EFHYD3D; later renamed PAM-CRASH. Progress in crash simulation was rapid and within five years all manufacturers had started to investigate and apply the technology. Indeed, ESI in collaboration with Volkswagen Group developed its first car crash simulation methodology in 1986. From then, ESI GmbH played a major role in industrializing crashworthiness simulation worldwide. Indeed, in the early 1990’s, ESI Group opened offices in the United States, Korea and Japan, and the German office helped transferring know-how to the new local representatives.

“I count myself very fortunate to have seen and contributed to the development and industrialization of products such as PAM-CRASH which became a commercial success, and also helped make cars and transportation genuinely safer. Even after nearly 25 years, it still is exciting to witness the innovative developments that continue to go into those products”, said Dr. Anthony Pickett, Scientific Director at ESI GmbH.

Most development activities at ESI GmbH have targeted the needs of the car industry. These include PAM-STAMP for the simulation of sheet metal forming and PAM-CRASH/PAM-SAFE for crashworthiness and occupant safety analysis. Part of the success of these products has been the ongoing close collaboration with industrial partners and their suppliers.

ESI GmbH has steadily grown over the years and in 2003 it was necessary to move to a more spacious office in Eschborn, which is ESI GmbH’s main headquarters today. Following further expansion in activities, two more offices were opened in Munich and Essen, amounting to a total German workforce of 52 employees. Today, the main role of ESI GmbH is to support its German customers and actively develop specific new options for them in various sectors from material failure modeling, welding, sheet metal and composites forming, composites failure analysis and dummy developments. The office is also involved in important innovative research at both European and National levels.

”We have built strong relationships with our customers over the past 30 years and those have helped ESI GmbH introduce leading technology to the markets,” declared Mr. Haluk Menderes, ESI GmbH Managing Director. “We are today well equipped to be a trusted advisor and partner enabling End-to-End Virtual Prototyping so that our customers can get it right at the right time”.