Written by Jill on Wednesday July 31st 2013 in Art of Simulation, Technical Corner
Introducing…Matthew Hobson-Rohrer
Matthew Hobson-Rohrer is SIMUL8’s newly appointed Business Development Manager for the Americas. This family orientated, blues and funk loving, outdoor sports enthusiast has a great perspective on technology, life and the future of simulation.
Q. Can you tell us about your professional background?
A. My undergrad is in Mining Engineering. I took that mining engineering background and applied it to civil and mechanical engineering roles with a technology emphasis.
In 1987 a friend called me up and said he was working for a great company called AutoSimulations [developers of AutoMod] and I should come check it out. I spent 20 years with that company and I worked in almost every position in a software organization! I started as a simulation analyst, building models for companies like Coors, Boeing and General Electric, and it was a great opportunity to put my love of engineering and computing together.
Q. What was it about SIMUL8 that attracted you?
A. The company and the people – there’s a lot of young, smart, and energetic people. In terms of the product; I like how easily the software can be applied to many different kinds of problems.
I’ve spent the last 25 years in material handling and supply chain and while that is a great area of application for simulation it’s a pretty small market. The fact that SIMUL8 is used in call centers, factories, hospitals, businesses, and more is exciting to me.
Also, of all the simulation companies I know, you guys just get it. When I say ‘get it’ I mean you are innovating, measuring, and learning as you run the business, and if any company can bring simulation to the masses, it’ll be us.
Q. What have you taken from your previous positions that has contributed to your success?
A. Work ethic; basically one of my mottos for life is ‘work hard, play hard’. I worked my way through college delivering ice in the summers, which gave me an appreciation for what it takes to keep customers happy and build a successful business.
Q. What do you like about SIMUL8 software?
A. I like how quickly SIMUL8 gets you to your results. The richness and value of simulation comes from when you get data from the model and using those results in your decision making – it seems to me we’ve done a good job of creating a tool where the results are as much in the foreground as the way you build the model and that’s really cool. Also the speed – I like how fast SIMUL8 is.
Q. Besides work, what are your passions?
A. My family first, then hiking, cycling, and snow sports. I used to race bicycles as an amateur in the early 1980s . Skiing and cycling are sports I look forward to doing the rest of my life. I love watching my six year old navigate a narrow section of trail on his mountain bike.
Matt will be taking SIMUL8’s Live Lessons in August – to find out more, and have the chance to be trained by him in person, visit simul8.com/learn-to-simul8/