Design approaches to maximize product value while minimizing capital and unit costs.
What can be done to improve a family of products while reducing both unit costs and the cost of tooling (non-recurring engineering & capital investment)? Here we discuss critical steps, planning options and design approaches needed to make the most of developing a family of products.
When should you invest in tooling to reduce unit manufacturing costs?
The decision to invest in tooling for the purpose of driving down manufacturing costs is different for every product, company and market. Quite often, when launching a new product or entering a new market, a risk averse design approach is taken that requires little or no tooling investment. Three things must be considered when determining how to approach design and manufacturing strategies:
A critical component of effective product design.
Sometimes we get too focused on a specific challenging problem to solve, and lose sight of the other elements of the product that need to be addressed to be successful. For example, we could be so intensely focused on bringing a new innovative mechanism to market, that we forget to make sure that this new innovation is cost-effective as well as functionally excellent. A clever solution that people can’t afford is not a balanced design. It is only a partial solution. Conversely, we could be so intent on keeping the development and cost of goods (COGS) down, that we ignore key product features that will make it competitive.
Carroll Design is a full service industrial design and mechanical engineering firm that propels its client's products to their full potential.
