subject: Reduce Manufacturing Costs Through Design Optimization [print this page] The design of a product is affected by many factors. For example the product's function, how much time it takes to manufacture the product and get it to market, the engineering and design of the product, where it will be manufactured (plus available tools, manpower and facilities), market competition, and, naturally, the cost of manufacturing the product. Reducing the manufacturing cost of a product is a good way to increase profits, and this can be achieved using design optimization.
While there are many ways businesses can cut costs, design optimization is possibly the best in that you will save money and produce a superior product. The more you can incorporate manufacturing considerations into the design of your product, the more able you will be to manufacture high quality products with speed and efficiency. This is achieved by getting your team of specialists to work together towards the common goal of producing the best products in the shortest space of time with the least amount of wasted time and material possible.
By far the best way to optimize your design to reduce costs is to make your product as simple as possible. Needlessly complicated designs will delay production rates, raise costs, and in general eat into your profits. No one is saying you need to cut corners with components that are necessary to the function of your product, but rather that each aspect of the design should be very carefully considered and the design kept as simple as possible.
Another approach to design optimization and cost reduction would be to outsource as many of your components as possible. The more your design makes use of parts that have already been designed and are already being produced, 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 that will minimize your production costs.
One more thing you can do to cut down on your expenses is to look at the expectations of your existing and potential customers. What features do they especially like? What attributes are thought to be unnecessary? The more you focus on the needs of your customers, and the more you can eliminate the parts of your product that customers don't care about, the more money you will save and potentially garner more business too.
The last lesson that design optimization teaches us is to check the design and make sure it is both optimal and that the product will still function correctly. Tools like 3D CAD software can often be used to identify design flaws before the product even makes it to production, possibly saving your organization a lot of time and money. Design flaws can potentially cost you a lot of money through lost sales, product recalls and redesigning the product.
