RAMDO Solutions, LLC (http://ramdosolutions.com/), founded by K. K. Choi, Roy J. Carver Professor of Mechanical Engineering, professor of mechanical and industrial engineering, and researcher at the UI Center for Computer-Aided Design, and UI alumnus Nick Gaul (PhD 2014 mechanical engineering) has been selected to receive the University of Iowa Start-up of the Year Award for 2017.
In announcing the award, Daniel Reed, University of Iowa Vice President for Research and Economic Development, said that RAMDO Solutions "exhibits passion, devotion, and innovation in planning and deploying its start up, and has made significant progress over the years and made an impact as determined by jobs created, revenue generated, or other metrics."
RAMDO Solutions has developed an advanced software system to enhance the reliability of military and commercial ground and air vehicles, wind turbines, and many other areas that are design focused. RAMDO (Reliability Analysis & Multidisciplinary Design Optimization) gives organizations the ability to obtain an optimum design prior to prototype development, reducing product development costs. Design optimization software is used in conjunction with other CAE (Computer-aided Engineering) applications to find the optimal design.
Today, optimization of the majority of designs occurs without the inclusion of reliability, making the end product only 50% reliable. By including reliability in the analysis RAMDO becomes a game changer; instead of spending money on modifying designs that have failed in the field, companies will spend less money up front to produce a better product, improving customer relationships and decreasing liability concerns. RAMDO has demonstrated its ability by reducing manufacturing and warranty costs by 25%, and a 10 fold increase in reliability. Based on their ability to produce better products, RAMDO successfully obtained Army SBIR Phase I funding in May 2014 and was selected for Army SBIR Phase II funding in January 2015.
The company will be formally honored at the Celebrating Excellnce dinner and awards ceremony April 27.