Hi All,

Let me start by saying I know there will not be a "yes" or "no" type answer for these questions, and that the outcome will be to some degree situational.  That being said, I am considering purchasing a license of SW Sim Pro and am hoping to get some feedback from current users regarding the profitability of such a purcahse.  Here is my situation:

• I am a mechanical engineer working predominantly on product design (anything from iPhone cases to solar power equipment to medical devices). 
• Many of my projects benefit from at least low level FEA (some of which can be accomplished with Simulation Xpress, included in the core version of SW), but increasingly I am finding the need for more sophisticated simulation capabilities
• Most of my sim needs are mechanical in nature, but I occasionally run across the need for thermal simulation
• I work for myself and have leveraged my engineering rate about as far as it can go; at this point (short of hiring employees and leveraging additional manpower) the only way to increase my margin is to offer a service for which I can bill higher rates - I am hoping Simulation Pro will allow me to do this

Here are some of the questions I have.  Any advice or experience you can share would be greatly apprecaited

• Have you found you can bill higher rates when doing mechanical or thermal simulation work (not flow, I wouldn't have this in Sim Pro) than product design work?
• What rates are reasonable for the types of simulation work listed in the previous bullet?
• Have you encountered resistance from customers due to the perception that SW simulation is perhaps less powerful/capable than others such as ANSYS or Abacus?
• What ways have you found to optimize the Simulation software's capability to pay for itself?
• Anything else I should be considering as far as whether or not I can justify the price of the software against the simulation work I hope to receive?

Thanks so much for taking the time to read through this!

Aaron