As part of this analysis, tech-solute® investigated how much damage could be caused by using outdated operating instructions for a CT scanner cooling system. Furthermore, an analysis was carried out to discover what would happen if the operating instructions were disregarded in general. The goal was to develop a basis for making a case against potential warranty claims in the case of damage due to misuse.
Product optimization
Good is not good enough
What we offer you
Product Benchmarking: The objective comparison of your product's characteristics with those of competing products will reveal its technical market position. As well as finding the weaknesses in the competitors' designs, we will give you ideas on how you can make your product the best in its class.
Application process analysis: Our application process analysis –supported by eye tracking technology – highlights the weaknesses of the product and the work process. With creativity and an eye for technology from other industries, we use this to develop ideas which make your customers' work easier, which improve occupational safety or which increase the efficiency of the work.
Reducing manufacturing costs: Function integration, same parts, alternative functional principles, new technologies or alternative manufacturing processes make up only a small part of the options we consider to reduce the manufacturing costs of your product. Our unique action-catalog helps us to take all the principal directions into account.
Failure and weak point analysis: Do users of your products complain about functional weaknesses, but the reasons for these remain hidden to you? We will support you in finding the causes of failure. Here we draw assistance from a special problem-solving method. Suitable optimization activities are of course included in the service we provide.
Tuning for your products
Methodology / Tools
We use a special checklist to evaluate technical systems. It ensures that we consider diverse aspects in detail, such as, for example, functional principle, manufacturing costs, shape, material, surfaces, loading capacity, kinematics, etc. Our neutral point of view and the capacity to make an objective assessment gives us advantages over our customers.
We combat known product weaknesses with suggestions for optimization. Here, we think in particular about alternative functional principles, as these offer wider potential compared to detailed optimizations. This is where we profit from our cross-industry activities.
Since cost reduction takes on a dominant role in optimizations, we have developed an action-catalog containing a list of all the theoretically possible actions for product cost reduction. Things get interesting when we go through this catalog step-by-step with your specialists; considering in what form the relevant action could be´implemented for your product.
In comparison to other tools, this approach is pragmatic and, at the same time, very effective. You can be assured that those involved in the development of the product discuss all principal possibilities for cost reduction in detail.
Finally, our ingenuity, which we put to the test every day during innovation development, helps us not just to recognize actions but to develop specific solutions.
In turn, a simple trick helps us in modular development: By putting your existing product out of your mind and initially only concentrating on the requirements and wishes of your markets, it is possible to define the specification for an initial system which will satisfy most of your customers. In the subsequent creative process, your staff evaluate how existing components can be used to realize the initial system. The following ideas generation also focuses on upgrading and downgrading activities which are needed to realize all economically viable variants.
Project examples
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23/09/2016Cost and functional optimization of a seatbelt pre-tensioning systemRead MoreA combined seatbelt retractor-pretensioning system consists of around 120 components and is produced by the million. At this customer's request, tech-solute® identified potential for cost reduction in the system and presented these as concept suggestions. Here, as well as alternative materials, particular attention was paid to alternative manufacturing processes and the design. With more than 40 developed and comparatively simple to implement suggestions for improvement, significant savings could be achieved.
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23/09/2016Modular development of surface measuring unitsRead MoreThe goal of this modular development was the cost-effective formation of product variants. Within five workshops it was possible to define the market requirements for an initial system. Thanks to a small number of upgrading and downgrading activities on individual product components, it was possible to form all the required product variants. In ideas workshops, technical solutions were developed together with the customer's team, taking both new and existing ideas into account. Aided by various technology investigations and analyses, tech-solute® contributed knowledge about the current state-of-the-art.
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19/09/2016Benchmarking "Design to durability" for the dishwasher sectorRead MoreAs a neutral partner, tech-solute® evaluated the robustness of selected components of a domestic dishwasher compared with competitors' products, and identified the design principles behind them. For the subjective evaluation, potential dishwasher users from a non-technical background were involved in the project. Based on this analysis, tech-solute® developed ideas for optimizing the design of the object analyzed.