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Department of Engineering

Celebrating 21 Years of Materials Selection

Celebrating 21 Years of Materials Selection

A "coming of age" party marked twenty-one years of materials selection software at Cambridge University and Granta Design earlier this summer.

In 1986, Professors Mike Ashby and David Cebon first collaborated on developing software tools to systematically select materials for engineering applications. Their work, at the Department, led to the founding of Granta Design and the development of new technologies and products that are now used by world-leading engineering organizations such as NASA, Rolls-Royce, Honeywell, GE, and Emerson Electric. These products include:

  • CES Selector - advanced software tools, used in industry to support analysis and selection of engineering materials and processes
  • GRANTA MI - an integrated system to manage materials information throughout the engineering process
  • CES EduPack - the leading toolkit for teaching materials engineering, now used at over 550 universities worldwide.

The celebration party, at Queens' College, Cambridge, brought together current and former employees and researchers at Granta Design and Cambridge University, and other longstanding friends of the materials selection project. A display, supported by hands-on demonstrations, charted the development of Granta's materials information technology from the "back of an envelope" in 1986 to today's advanced commercial tools.

Remarks from Granta Chairman, Mike Ashby; Managing Director, David Cebon and Chief Operating Officer, Patrick Coulter, thanked all of those at Cambridge University, Granta Design, partners and customers, who have contributed to this progress. They also noted the promising future for materials information technology. Good decisions about materials usage will be central to eco-design and to the ability of business to reduce its carbon footprint and meet environmental regulations. These decisions require the right materials information and analysis tools - so Granta's solutions are well placed to play a vital role in an increasingly eco-aware economy.

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