Optimization of materials is one way to keep costs down.  If a material is harder to find or its availability is rarer, this will make it more expensive.  If a lower cost option can be used, this needs to be investigated to keep costs of production at a minimum.  Looking at the manufacturing process could find savings and improvements.  If the manufacturing procedures are manual, savings could be gained if more automation were adopted.  It may also be found that the manufacturing system was not accurately tested and too much waste is cultivated, resulting in much scrap, for example.  Having excess scrap is a loss of profit where the material or metal could have been used to produce a product if testing were more precise as was the manufacturing process.

If a business opts to outsource some of its manufacturing to cut costs, one important consideration is in the product quality.  If the products quality is lost because of the cost reduction, this may not be as productive in saving money as hoped.

Concurrent Engineering and Design for Manufacturability

Another way of saving on costs is through concurrent engineering.  This is when a product is designed simultaneously as the process of manufacturing for the production of the product.  Another method is design for manufacturability (DFM) where products are designed in a way to optimize all of the facets of the manufacturing process such as fabrication, shipping, testing, ensuring the best costs and customer satisfaction.  DFM promotes products to be manufactured with the least amount of parts and therefore cost reduction and less waste.  Product design is done so that the product will be able to work with other parts and standardization is promoted.

Other Cost Saving Methods

Working alongside a vendor to assist in the design of a product can help in keeping costs low. They can assist in preventing decision making such as producing a product unnecessarily fancier for aesthetic purposes.  Vendors will understand the issues that face manufacturers and can help in giving solutions.  This also provides a learning opportunity so that the manufacturer and vendor learn how to produce the jobs faster and more effectively each time.

Input has to be garnered from staff in every department of the company in order to cut costs.  Talking to employees who actually do the jobs on the floor can yield ideas on how to make changes to save money.

Understanding all issues that have occurred in the past and learning from them so that they will not happen again in the future is important.  Make sure designs are as simple as they can be so the fabrication, assembly and processing are simple.  Any problems in assembly, fabrication and processing can end in huge costs to repair.  Follow procedures for processes of design.  For example, there are certain procedures for use of a laser cutter so follow them to the letter each time the laser cutter is used.  Do not design for right- and left-hand parts but produce a product that can be used either way so as not to end up with a large amount of stock.  Have a product that is symmetrical so it is simple to assemble and avoids unneeded complexity.  Always produce a quality product.  It is less costly to do it correctly the first time than to fix it later on.

Marc Anderes is the Vice President of Operations of Maloya Laser that is dedicated to Metal Manufacturing and <A href=”http://www.MaloyaLaser.com”>Laser Cutting</a> with advanced <A href=”http://www.maloyalaser.com/capabilities_equipment.php”>laser technologies</a>, for medical, aerospace, scientific and transportation requirements.

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