The functionality and robustness of implicit (standard) FE codes are now such that, with sufficient skill and proper use, the technique can not only deepen present understanding of many mechanical and physical processes, but can also be used to simulate fairly complex forming problems such as rolling, bending, stretching, extrusion, deep drawing, bulging, complex asymmetric shaping, wire-drawing, etc. In this paper a number of examples are selected to demonstrate this flexibility and its application to teaching and to manufacturing generally. Further, by using the explicit codes the use of the method is extended to examine the collision of multiple rigid bodies during the collapse of a triangularly-packed stack of pipes, and the simulation of the successive collisions between pins during ten-pin bowling. Two problems are used to illustrate the use of the method for teaching: these are the multiple inversion of a solid toroidal ring and the behaviour of a rubber strip matrix reinforced by steel wire. In the case of the rubber strip, the reinforcing wires are arranged such that a direct force applied at one end in a direction parallel to the length of the strip and with the other end appropriately fixed, causes the strip to twist. This is a good example of how two isotropic materials can be combined together in such a way as to produce the load-deflection characteristics of an anisotropic material. Two simulations of manufacturing processes are presented also. Firstly, the quasi-static forming of an aluminium tube into a cylindrical-conical rigid die is described, whilst the second example is a simulation of the production of a spherical vessel by using a pressure pulse generated by an explosion to form a system of fabricated conical sections inscribed within a sphere. Finally the FE explicit code is used to examine at first the collapse of a triangularly-packed stack of pipes under gravity. The same technique and procedure is then adopted in the study of the multiple successive collisions ensued subsequent to the impact of a ball with a pin in a ten-pin bowling simulation.