1. Industry background and Adams usage status: high-frequency authorization pressure under complex maneuvers and multi-working condition simulation
in industries such as automobiles, rail transit, construction machinery, robots, and aerospace,MSc Adams it is the most commonly used multi-body dynamics (MBD) simulation platform. Engineers rely on Adams to:
- Mechanism Kinematics/Dynamics Simulation
- Suspension and steering system performance analysis
- Multi-condition durability load extraction
- Vehicle roll, braking, and stimulus response
- Rigid-flexible coupling simulation of mechanical systems
- Modeling and solving of industry modules such as Adams/Car, Adams/View, Adams/Flex, etc.
The real usage patterns within the enterprise have distinct characteristics:
- The model is complex and takes a long time to solve, a working condition may last for several hours or even dozens of hours.
- Engineers often leave Adams running or left “on” for long periods of time.
- Script batch tasks (Python/command line) may hang while still occupying licenses.
- Demand surges before project nodes (such as performance freeze, durable load extraction).
- The suspension team, vehicle team, and chassis team often use them frequently at the same time..
Due to the lack of transparent monitoring, companies often encounter:
- When starting the software, it prompts “No license available” for unknown reasons.
- It is not clear who is occupying and which Adams modules are occupied
- Partial session Idle (no operation) but continues to occupy licenses
- The solution ends, but the client legacy process is not released
- The usage status of distributed teams (foreign R&D centers, suppliers) cannot be seen uniformly
- It is difficult for management to judge whether additional purchases should be made or whether there is waste
Adams licenses became the quintessential “high-value, zero-transparency, conflict-prone” engineering resource.
2. Typical challenges faced by enterprises in Adams usage management
(1) Technical pain points
- Floating licenses are often full and running simulations is blocked
- Unable to see specific users, usage modules and usage time in real time
- The user opens Adams and does not operate → Idle for a long time
- Solve is running for a long time and the license is locked
- When scripts are run in batches, tasks are suspended and still occupy resources.
- Background zombie process causes license not to be released
- Multiple business lines share the same authorization pool (suspension/vehicle/transmission/chassis) → prone to conflicts
(2) Management pain points
- Lack of real data to formulate annual purchasing plan
- Project nodes lead to peak impacts, but the reasons cannot be quantified
- Departments complain about resource grabbing, but lack factual basis
- Teams in multiple locations cannot uniformly monitor usage
- There is no accurate basis for judging whether to expand the capacity.
- Abnormal occupancy causes budget waste that cannot be identified
The fundamental problem is: Adams’ licensing behavior cannot be observed in real time and cannot be quantified.
3. How Nodexel intervenes: Build Adams’ visual usage management system
Nodexel does not change Adams’ authorization method or affect the engineers’ simulation process. Instead, it builds the visualization and data layer based on the existing authorization pool.
1. Monitor Adams license usage in real time
The platform can display in real time:
- People currently using Adams online
- The specific modules occupied (Adams/Car, Adams/View, etc.)
- Length of use
- Whether it is Active/Idle state
- Remaining quantity of authorization pool
- Current load trend curve
For the first time, enterprises have a “real-time dynamic view of Adams usage.”
2. Automatically identify Idle users
Nodexel automatically identifies:
- Whether there is no operation for a long time
- Whether the solution is completed but the interface remains open
- Whether to hang in the background purely
Idle tags can significantly reduce invalid usage.
3. Automatically identify abnormal occupancy and support gentle recycling
For example:
- Client closed but license not released
- Batch processing task hangs
- Solving ends but process is still occupied
Nodexel can gently recycle idle or unavailable processes according to enterprise policies without interfering with normal simulation.
4. Department-level, project-level, and module-level usage statistics
For example:
- Is Adams/Car the most occupied?
- Do the suspension team’s needs far exceed those of the vehicle team?
- Does the load extraction project have a peak before the node?
- Do overseas teams create special loads at night?
Help management develop strategies based on real data.
5. Visualize peak vs. trough periods
Such as:
- Peak usage during the day (9-11am, 2-4pm)
- Pressure peak value during working condition verification period
- Permit Impact Points in Project Annual Planning
- Differences in usage periods among different departments
This moves businesses from “feeling busy” to “seeing actual trends.”
6. Unified monitoring across regions and multiple teams
Adaptation:
- Headquarters R&D Center
- Chassis and Vehicle Division
- Overseas R&D Center
- Suppliers and collaborative teams
All usage behaviors can be presented in one interface.
4. Direct benefits brought by data insights
Enterprises typically observe the following quantifiable results in practice:
1. Increase license utilization by 20%–40%
With fewer idle and exception occupancies, more license is available for realistic simulations.
2. Reduce idle occupancy by 30%–60%
Significantly fewer engineers forget to exit Adams.
3. The simulation startup success rate is significantly improved
Wait times for permission are significantly reduced.
4. Authorization expansion decisions are more accurate
Enterprises can judge based on real data:
- Whether to expand capacity
- How much to expand
- Which modules are bottlenecks
- Which teams are the main sources of load
5. Improved project delivery efficiency
The simulation link is smoother and waiting for permission is no longer a bottleneck.
5. Real usage scenarios by engineers
Chassis department of an OEM, Thursday 2 pm.
Engineer Lao Yang opened Adams/Car and planned to run the cornering stability condition, but an error popped up:
“No Available License”
The project was urgent, so he contacted the teams one by one:
- “Is the suspension under working condition?”
- “Is the whole vehicle solved in batches?”
- “Is anyone idle?”
Departments speculated among themselves but could not find the real source of the occupation.
After enabling Nodexel:
- Identified 2 Adams/View sessions that were idle for more than 60 minutes
- 1 solution ended but progress remains
- The simulation demand on that day had an obvious peak at 14:00
- What actually caused the bottleneck was the batch script of a certain project team, not the suspension team.
The administrator quickly released the invalid occupation, and Lao Yang successfully started Adams/Car and completed the simulation settings.
This is a typical and frequently occurring scenario: Enterprises don’t lack Adams licenses, they lack “management and visibility.”
6. Summary: Nodexel allows Adams to enter the data-driven engineering management stage
The value of Nodexel is not in exaggerating the effect, but in:
- Building the transparent data layer used by Adams
- Allow engineering teams and management to understand real resource pressures for the first time
- Reduce waste and conflict
- Improve the stability of simulated links
- Make authorized budget more scientific
- Improve the ROI (input-output ratio) of engineering software
When Adams usage behavior is no longer a “black box”, the simulation R&D efficiency of enterprises will naturally increase accordingly.
