Improving return on product development costs Washington DC

Products succeed in the marketplace when those products provide to the customer the features the customer finds valuable at a reasonable price. There are two key ingredients required of a manufacturer to allow this to happen:

1. Understand exactly what the customer wants and perceives as valuable.
2. Provide those products at a fair value within a reasonable lead time.

The concept of platform-based design seems to have had its initial acceptance in computer and electronics manufacturing. It is now widely utilized in the automotive industry. Platform-based design is fundamental in cost control and time to market aspects of new product introductions.

My wife drives a Ford branded vehicle that is built on a platform designed and also utilized by Volvo. Beyond the platform all these vehicles share many common internal components. It doesn't require a detailed analysis to realize that utilization of common platforms and components saves considerable design and development costs, not to mention the extremely important reduction in time to market for these products.

While we tend to credit the implementation of this design approach to the electronics industry, I am not certain it originated there. The kitchen cabinet industry has capitalized on this concept for years, without giving it catchy terminology or gaining any press — but we all know we wood folks aren't very exciting!

The most successful kitchen cabinet companies today offer the customer a "semi-custom" product scope. The customer can select from a long list of standard trim options to create a custom kitchen, all of which are built on a few common carcasses or platforms. These platforms are designed to accommodate all the available trim options without costly variations to the basic cabinet, variations that could price the product out of the market.

The same features that allow these trim options to offer the customer their own personal kitchen design at an attractive price also allow the product to be built in a very short lead time since these customer specific features are simply "add-ons."

BATTLING IMPORTS

Key to successfully competing against imports is the ability to provide to the customer, at a reasonable price, features the customer sees as valuable in a lead time not achievable by offshore suppliers. The kitchen cabinet industry has found considerable success in protecting their market by recognizing these principles.

The use of a common platform or carcass allows design changes to take place which follow trends without a complete redesign of the product. The trim is redesigned or offerings expanded, but not the platform.

The same potential for the platform approach taken by the kitchen cabinet industry applies to most all lines of case goods. Office furniture, store fixtures and many segments in the residential market can also take advantage of the platform concept and benefit by adopting it.

Had more of the residential furniture manufacturers recognized these key elements, they might still be producing furniture in the United States. The application is a bit different than for kitchen cabinets but examples are easy to see:

1. Tables with a common top and apron but a wide selection of leg styles.
2. Couches and chairs with common frames but a selection of trim allowing "customization." This can be as simple as leg and arm options or as complex as custom seat dimensions.

These common platform approaches often need not be constrained by fixed dimensions. The ability to tailor dimensions for an individual customer offers yet another avenue to increase sales and margins.

The foundation for cost-effectively offering the option of dimensional changes to the platform is through the use of parametric CAD/CAE programs. Parametric programs allow tailoring an individual dimension and transparently altering all other impacted dimensions within the assembly. These programs are then linked directly to the machine programs. This is not rocket science, and many software packages on the market today do exactly this.

I talk often about the necessity to differentiate your products from that of the competition. Utilization of parametric CAD/CAE/CAM as the basis of design and production provides the ability to offer to the customer a truly custom product at no real additional cost to the manufacturer, other than material adjustments.

Obviously, this cost neutral attribute does not apply if you are still encumbered by large lot production. The advantage here falls to those who have adopted Lot Size One principles. The only real cost variable incurred in the manufacturing process is material and possibly yield adjustments. The fact that a part is 5/8 in. smaller or larger is inconsequential to the manufacturing process.

There are additional business benefits that come about as a result of providing customer specific products vs. standard preproduced products. Inventories are reduced and cash flow improves. Some trim options will require inventory, but at a raw or semifinished level and therefore at lower value. The finished product will ship immediately to the customer, not sit in a warehouse while you hope that someone might want what you happened to have made.

Another advantage this capability offers to the manufacturer is that despite the manufacturing cost being cost neutral, the selling price can leverage these seemingly custom features and allow higher margins since they represent greater value to the customer.

While parametric CAD/CAE/CAM is a vital component in allowing these variations, it is not the sole requirement. The designer must adopt a design approach that lends itself to this concept, and often that can be a challenge. It is not my intent to alienate the design community, but in my experience some designers harbor a compulsive need to be different for the sole purpose of being different (that is an opinion offered from the eyes of an engineer).

This difference might be as subtle as a slight change in edge radius, but this difference can at times take on great importance to a designer. However, unless this difference offers value in the eyes of the customer or is cost neutral to manufacturing, it cannot be justified. As an example, I find it difficult to justify the cost of a tool change for a 0.1mm change in edge radius.

UNIQUE APPEARANCE

The fundamental design process must be based on the principle of uniqueness of appearance and/or function without uniqueness to manufacturing, which can result in additional cost without increased value. The focus of the designer must be on the customer: What do customers want and for what are they willing to pay — what represents increased fair value to the customers?

Few designers are intimately familiar with the manufacturing process, its capabilities as well as its limitations. The teaming of the designer with the manufacturer in an effective cooperative approach to a well-defined and understood goal will result in the best possible products for the market.

In closing I am compelled to offer a caution to my fellow engineers — we too often allow ourselves to be unknowingly constrained by some unseen box. Do not fall into the trap of constraining the freedom of thought brought to the table by designers because your feet are stuck in one of those imagined boxes.

Ed. note: Dave Grubb is a manufacturing consultant. David C. Grubb Associates, LLC offers a broad range of engineering and management support for the design and operation of cabinet, flat panel and furniture plants. He can be reached at (215) 397-8236 or via e-mail at dcg@grubbassoc.com.