Accelerating Automotive CAE in the Cloud: Q&A with Röchling Automotive

Röchling Automotive has a legacy of developing innovative plastic-based solutions for the automotive industry. In a world rapidly transitioning toward electric mobility and sustainability, Röchling’s expertise in lightweight materials and mechatronic systems plays a critical role in shaping the future of the automotive sector. We sat down with Thomas Tsigkopoulos, Manager of Computer-Aided Engineering (CAE) and Global Function CAE at Röchling Automotive, to explore how advanced simulation helps solve complex engineering challenges and deliver cutting-edge products. By leveraging Rescale’s cloud-based high performance computing (HPC) solutions, Röchling can respond to urgent customer needs with scalable compute resources that reduce runtime dramatically, enabling parallel job execution across various projects.

Can You Share Röchling Automotive’s Mission and What Makes the Company Unique?

Thomas: Röchling Automotive is part of the larger Röchling Group, which has been shaping industries worldwide for more than 200 years. At Röchling Automotive, our focus is on creating lightweight, high-performance solutions that enhance vehicle efficiency. We specialize in products for aerodynamic improvements, structural lightweight applications, advanced mechatronic and fluid systems as well as thermal management systems for battery electric vehicles.

The shift toward EVs and the need for sustainability has made our work even more impactful. Our mission is to reduce material usage and weight while delivering high-functionality systems that meet or exceed the expectations of leading automotive manufacturers.

What Role Does Modeling and Simulation Play in Your Engineering Processes?

Thomas: Modeling and simulation are at the heart of our product development. Our engineers rely on advanced computer-aided engineering (CAE) simulations for everything from material modeling and virtual design verification to process development and manufacturing tool dimensioning. For example, our work with recycled materials often involves highly stochastic material behaviors, which add complexity to simulations.

We focus on prototype-free development, which is a significant shift driven by many of our customers, including major OEMs. This approach requires extensive simulations to verify designs, optimize manufacturing processes, and ensure compliance with strict performance requirements. Simulations allow us to integrate multiple functions—such as actuators and sensors—into a single plastic-based system, enhancing both performance and sustainability.

What Makes Röchling’s Approach to Simulation and Engineering Unique?

Thomas: We take a holistic approach to simulation, combining early concept development with validation through target-driven laboratory testing. This ensures that our simulations are grounded in real-world performance data. A key aspect of our philosophy is flexibility—we need to adapt quickly to changing requirements from customers, whether it’s responding to new design specifications or addressing sustainability-related challenges.

One example is the development of EV battery enclosures. These require not only structural strength to withstand impacts but also advanced thermal management capabilities. By using simulations, we can predict and optimize performance under various scenarios, reducing the need for physical prototypes and accelerating time-to-market.

What Challenges Have You Faced in Simulation, and How Has Rescale Helped?

Thomas: One of the biggest challenges we face is managing the sheer volume and complexity of simulations required for today’s projects. For instance, when working with certain OEMs, we may need to run dozens of simulations per week on large, nonlinear material systems. This demand far exceeds the capacity of our local hardware infrastructure. During a recent RFQ for a major OEM, Rescale’s platform reduced job runtimes from 60 hours on-premises to just 2 hours, allowing us to explore multiple scenarios and deliver high-quality results promptly.

Rescale provides a highly flexible and scalable resource allocation service, which has become invaluable to our operations. Rescale’s responsiveness and ability to quickly deploy additional computational resources, often within hours, has enabled us to meet tight deadlines without compromising quality. At less than 2 hours turnaround time to deploy ad hoc computational resources for demanding international Tier 1 automotive OEMs – it’s the only viable solution in our competitive world! Rescale’s platform also simplifies hardware and software setup, allowing our engineers to focus on testing new designs rather than figuring out IT configurations.

How Do You See Simulation Evolving at Röchling, and What Role Will New Technologies Play?

Thomas: Looking ahead, we aim to integrate AI and machine learning into our CAE workflows to further reduce modeling and simulation times. AI-assisted, meshing-free workflows have the potential to revolutionize how we approach design optimization. However, implementing these technologies requires significant investment in tools and a cultural shift within the industry.

We’re also exploring ways to harness past simulation data to drive new project decisions. For example, reduced-order modeling could allow us to reuse insights from previous designs, minimizing the need for repetitive simulations. While we’ve seen promising results in some AI benchmarks, broader adoption will depend on securing buy-in from both management and customers.

What Advice Would You Give to Automotive Leaders Considering HPC Solutions?

Thomas: The automotive industry is moving toward simulation-intensive development strategies, and HPC is essential to meeting these demands. My advice is to prioritize solutions that offer flexibility and scalability. Rescale has been a reliable partner in this regard, helping us address unplanned escalations and resource bottlenecks efficiently.

HPC isn’t just about technology for performance sake—it’s about enabling industry innovation. For suppliers like us, having access to scalable resources ensures we can meet the expectations of OEMs while staying within budget. Collaboration with partners and customers will also be key to unlocking the full potential of HPC in automotive engineering.

Supporting Röchling’s Vision For the Future

Röchling Automotive continues to push the boundaries of what’s possible in the field of advanced and sustainable plastic-based solutions. From developing next-generation EV components to pioneering new approaches in simulation and AI, the company’s commitment to innovation is clear. As Thomas emphasized, collaboration and agility will remain critical in mastering the challenges and opportunities of the automotive sector’s rapid transformation.

Rescale is proud to support Röchling Automotive on this journey and look forward to seeing how their engineering teams continue to shape the future of mobility.