We improve your products
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Lean and effective
Functional integration, common parts, alternative functional principles, new technologies or alternative manufacturing processes are only a small part of the possibilities we consider to reduce the manufacturing costs of your product. The ReDesign-to-Cost method and our unique catalogue of measures help us to consider all principle paths. We are also happy to be your realisation partner for the development of modular systems and series as well as for the modularisation of systems. One thing unites our approach to all these goals: we want to achieve the best results with as little effort as possible.
ReDesign-to-Cost Initiative
Goal: promising approaches for saving costs on your product, based on your ideas and ours.
The aim of the first phase of this compact three-stage process is to understand the overall technical system, the objectives and the development challenges from the customer’s point of view. To do this, we conduct interviews, find out the cost drivers and get to know the product in question in detail. Based on these insights, the tech-solute team develops creative solutions in the second phase, for example by simplifying functions or changing manufacturing processes – ranging from the obvious to the unusual. Here, the KARAT method is applied and viable approaches to solutions are concretised into “stimulus ideas”. These “stimulating ideas” provide valuable impulses to abandon existing “lines of thought” in the subsequent joint workshop with the department representatives of our customer and to adopt previously unconsidered or even unknown solution paths. The result is approaches to cost savings that your team believes in too.
Modular development for the creation of variants
Goal: reduce the diversity of components and assemblies of multi-variant products.
The modular system pursues the goal of being able to assemble different product variants from as few standardised parts or assemblies as possible, the so-called modules. Intelligently structured, modular product kits make it possible to meet differentiated customer requirements with little effort, while reducing complexity. We provide you with innovative impulses for a modularisation strategy for your product, enabling you to make a sustainable conceptual decision.
Modular development for series
Goal: reduce the diversity of components and assemblies in the realisation of products of the same type that differ in size.
According to the definition, series are technical structures that fulfil the same function with the same solution in several size levels, with the smallest possible production in a wide range of applications (e.g. geared motors, standard parts). Do you intend to derive a series from your product or does one already exist? With a customised modular strategy, you can significantly reduce complexity and the associated costs. We will be happy to think about how the series of your product can be made from as few different components and groups as possible.
Kano workshops
Goal: identify product features with low importance for the user
The Kano model is a model for systematically achieving customer satisfaction with a product. A special survey scheme is used to find out the expectations of buyers with regard to a specific product. The aim is to identify basic, performance, enthusiasm and rejection features as well as so-called irrelevant features that offer very good approaches for cost reduction. Instead of the users, we interview the people in your company in the course of a workshop who have frequent contact with customers (e.g. sales) and also your developers. Experience shows that this natural field of tension offers special potential for forward-looking changes. After our Kano workshop, you will know exactly which screws you can and cannot tighten.
External viewpoint for maximum success
tech-solute is your external partner in cost reduction projects. This enables unbiased analysis and questioning of the known without having to look through the “company glasses”. By dealing with the task as external innovation experts, “lines of thought” are deliberately broken open and new impulses are introduced, such as proven technical solution principles from other areas of technology.
Value analysis? No thank you!
Experience shows that in cost reduction projects that have the goal of reducing manufacturing costs by more than 10%, the optimisation of individual system components is not sufficient and the procedure according to a value analysis is not target-oriented. Above all, innovative approaches to solutions are needed based on the question “how can the same functions be fulfilled much more cost-effectively with a different functional principle?”. The aim here is not to question the fundamental functional principle of a system, but to question the way in which sub-, secondary- and auxiliary functions are realised and to develop technical alternatives. Therefore the approach corresponds to that of an innovation project.
With the KARAT method developed by tech-solute and the associated catalogue of measures, existing technology solutions are systematically questioned and the development of alternative ideas and concepts is methodically supported. In comparison to value analysis, this procedure is very pragmatic and leads to the goal more quickly. While value analysis focuses on identifying the causes of costs, the aim of KARAT is to systematically consider all possible measures to reduce costs, to identify the most suitable ones and to plan and implement them immediately.
