Standardization Consulting

Standardization Consulting would consist of the following activities for standardizing parts and materials for new designs:

• Identify and generate strategies for early steps to stop the proliferation, eliminate approved but unused parts, and eliminate duplicate parts.
• Develop procedures for selecting preferred (standard) parts based Pareto plots of current usage, anticipating new generation parts, consolidating tolerance/grades, optimizing availability/sourcing, and structuring and issuing the lists.  These would be based on the standardization procedures presented in Chapter 5 of the book "Design for Manufacturability & Concurrent Engineering."
• Develop special procedures for expensive parts which may appear to raise one product’s part cost, but widespread adoption would result in a net corporate saving.
• Develop ways to encourage standardization including reducing material overhead on standard parts, which also credits standard-parts-based products with the cost savings deserved.
• Develop procedures for maintaining/updating the standard parts lists.
  
  Although the primary focus of part standardization is for new products, a related topic is reducing part proliferation for existing products, which would represent significant cost reduction opportunities in supply chain management. The strategies would involve:
   
• Develop criteria and techniques to substitute “better than” standard parts on existing products; and
• Product Line Rationalization, which can eliminate the most unusual parts from plants as the most unusual products are eliminated or outsourced. This is especially applicable of older-technology parts, like through-hole circuit board components, which could be rationalized away if the older products were eliminated or outsourced, thus allowing plants to focus on only surface-mount components. A related topic would be the elimination or outsourcing of legacy products and spare parts, which could greatly reduce the part variety in the plants.
   

Implementation would be done in Standardization Workshops.

For more information call or e-mail:

Dr. David M. Anderson, P.E., fASME, CMC
www.HalfCostProducts.com
phone: 1-805-924-0100
fax: 1-805-924-0200

e-mail: anderson@build-to-order-consulting.com
 

Cost Reduction Strategy (home page)     Seminars     Consulting     Articles     Books     Site Map