In today's competitive manufacturing markets, companies that want to stay in business absolutely must know their customers, develop ideas through sound engineering fundamentals, and rely on computer-based tools such as simulation technology to evaluate and refine designs as quickly and accurately as possible. Manufacturers today do indeed have a wide range of such simulation tools to deploy throughout the product development process. Companies are finding that such tools can be used most effectively to facilitate design innovation if they are blended seamlessly within the product development cycle rather than used alongside the process. Simulation performed as an integral part of this process - rather than separately off to the side - continuously verifies the design and guides the configuration of the product. Simulation software is based on the process of modeling a real phenomenon with a set of mathematical formulas. It is a program that allows the user to observe an operation through simulation without actually performing that operation.