工程合作伙伴关系发现节省成本的机会

As an engineering director with nearly three decades of experience, I’ve seen firsthand the benefits of engineering partnerships between manufacturers and their parts suppliers. In my time with Optimas, I’ve been able to help manufacturers in multiple industries – automotive, agricultural, and heavy truck, solve complex engineering problems that resulted in significant cost savings.

The key is for manufacturers to get engineering partners involved at the part design stage so they can help uncover all opportunities early that reduce complexity and save costs. Let’s take a look at how it works as well as some success stories.

零件成本快速增加

在 Optimas，我们相信： “Fasteners account for 1% of your project budget but can make up nearly 50% of your product parts.”

We say this because many manufacturers overlook fasteners – which we live and breathe every day – and that can cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars over just a few years.

例如，卡车运输业进行的六西格玛研究表明：

• $7,000 用于要实施的单个新零件
• $1,600 – $3,500 to maintain the part in the system

现在，将其乘以数百个零件，您就会明白为什么除了其他好处之外，从经验丰富的工程零件供应商那里获得洞察力对于降低成本至关重要。

工程合作伙伴如何增加价值并节省资金？

通过与工程合作伙伴合作，您可以：

• 发现零件更换和生产机会
• 减少交货时间
• 快速扩大规模
• 产生更少的废物
• 提高效率并减少停机时间

他们通过多种方式帮助制造商实现这一目标：

1. Design & Pre-Assembly Consulting

制造商可以让他们的工程合作伙伴参与预组装甚至设计阶段，以查看设计计划，包括设备的组装方式。然后，他们可以明智地建议如何移除不必要的部件或用节省成本的替代品替换现有部件。

2. Line Walks & Line Evaluations

You can deploy your engineering partners to the line to determine how a product flows and talk to operators about problems they may have assembling or other challenges they’re facing in production. The expertise of your engineering partner can then be applied to solve these issues and increase your uptime and efficiency.

3. Experience & Supply

Optimas 等全球供应商有能力审视多个客户和行业，并将对其他客户有用的方法应用到您的产品中。例如，我们的一位工程师注意到一位客户正在使用与另一位客户相似的部件（电池端子螺母），我们能够合并他们的订单以节省两个组织的资金。

4.增材制造

在塑料、碳和钢等各种材料上进行 3D 打印的能力对制造业产生了影响。例如，Optimas 可以在数小时内打印出迭代概念和功能部件，让工程师更好地了解产品的工作原理。这允许两个团队在将设计投入生产之前进行故障排除并寻找节省成本的机会。

成功的工程合作伙伴关系

Here’s a few real-life examples of how our engineering expertise helped our manufacturing customers realize significant cost savings.

车库门制造商在重新设计的部件上节省了 $120,000

通过与我们合作，我们的客户，一家商业车库门制造商， 同时解决供应链和应用问题。 我们通过重新设计单个组件来交付价值并加强他们现有的供应链：

• 每年节省 $120,000 的成本
• 通过 75% 和保持腐蚀保护的钢替代品降低零件成本
• 提高生产效率 冷成型零件 来自我们的制造工厂
• 通过缩短交货时间消除生产线中断

Truck Manufacturer Resolves Costly Engineering Problem & Reduces Waste

我们与一家卡车制造商合作，该公司一直使用 rivnuts 将灯固定在卡车驾驶室顶部。当用螺栓固定在驾驶室上时，螺母会旋转并破坏驾驶室的顶部，从而损坏油漆和玻璃纤维。我们的工程团队推荐了一种防错螺纹螺钉，它不仅消除了对驾驶室顶部的破坏，还减少了过程中的浪费。

尽早合作，打持久战

Before you design your next product or make updates to an existing product, consult with your engineered parts supplier. Involve them early and keep in mind they’ll help you save money for years to come. If you don’t have an engineering partner, consider 与我们合作 利用我们的 工程, 3D 打印 和 冷成型制造能力.