subject: Using Design Optimization to Reduce Costs [print this page] Using Design Optimization to Reduce Costs
There are various factors that can have an effect on a product's design. For example what the product has been designed to do, the time it will take to manufacture the product and get it to market, the way the product is engineered, where the product is being manufactured (plus available staff, facilities and tools), marketing considerations, and, most obviously, the cost of manufacturing the product. Lowering the manufacturing cost of your products is the best way to increase your profits, and this can easily be achieved using design optimization.
Although there are several different ways businesses can lower costs, there is probably none better than design optimization for the reason that, done right, you will end up not only cutting costs of production, but might also end up creating a superior product. The more you can include manufacturing concerns into the design of your product, the more able you will be to create your products quickly and efficiently. This can be easily achieved by getting your team of specialists to work together with the common goal of creating the best products in the shortest amount of time with the least amount of wasted time and material possible.
One of the best ways to optimize your design in order to reduce costs would be to make sure you are manufacturing your product as simply as possible. Overly complicated designs will slow production rates, raise costs, and generally waste money. Nobody is saying you should cut corners with components that are necessary to your product, only that every aspect of the design should be thoroughly considered and the design kept as simple as possible.
Another method of design optimization and cost reduction is to outsource as many of your product's components as possible. The more your design can make use of parts that have already been designed and are already being manufactured, the cheaper and easier it will be to obtain the parts whenever you need them, and the less need you will have to keep an overstock of the components, both factors will cut down your manufacturing costs.
One more thing you can do to save money is to assess the needs and expectations of customers who are currently using your existing products, and who will potentially use your product if it is a new item. Which do they like about the product? Which features could they live without? The more you can focus on the needs of the consumer, and the more you can do away with the components that customers don't really care about, the more you can cut your costs and potentially garner more business at the same time.
The final thing that design optimization teaches us to do is to thoroughly check the design and make sure that the product will still do what it is designed to do. CAD software can sometimes be employed to identify flaws in the design of a product, potentially saving your organization a lot of time and expense. Although it's true that all manufacturers want to save money, missing a design flaw could cost you a great deal more money in the long run even when compared to using more expensive components.
