Situation

• Market leader in the manufacturing of food processing equipment and solutions
• Innovation is one of their key focus areas when bringing product to market and this manufacturer looked for new methods to bring cost effective ideas into their designs
• Management had tasked the team to reduce the overall cost of one of their products and to learn the Value Analysis/Value Engineering methodology for use on all future design projects

Actions

• Reduced the overall cost through a product teardown and addressing various design criteria, including serviceability, manufacturability, and purchasing
• Aligned product design to “voice of the customer”
• Analyzed the subsystem using FAST diagram and functional cost analysis prior to brainstorming and developing new ideas to improve the design and lower the overall cost

Results

• Realized 35% cost reduction by eliminating functions that were not critical to he customer