In designing a product or component, manufacturing often comes at the tail end of the process. In other words, manufacturability of a design is an after-thought. This is a major missed opportunity because simple changes with a knowledge of how something is built can bring about dramatic cost savings. In addition, many designs contain specifications that move beyond the needs of a design. An over-built design is just a more expensive design.
Manufacturing should go beyond executing a design: a good design/manufacturing partnership achieves design goals with the most efficient means possible. But in order to achieve this level of efficiency, design and manufacturing need to work early in the process. Establishing a reliable partner can bring manufacturability to the forefront, lead to better designed products, and save significantly. For example, Barth Industries has worked with several large clients and, through relatively small design changes, have been able to shave millions of dollars off our customers’ bottom line. The earlier we can work with a partner, the more we can do to save money in just the design of a product.
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