Eficient Design????? 2

[CORDVI]

Hi every one!
I am Mechanical Designer, I design machines and fixtures. In my work we have a lot of problems with the time of the design. Some times our clients ask for machines or fixtures in a very short time, and that make that the work we do has a lots of re-works.

I like to know your experiences in the proces of design. If you have standar materials, standar bolts, etc.?

I like to know about your organization.

Sorry about my englis. I hope that you can help whit your experience. Thank.

 

[GregLocock]

Well we have several design activities running in parallel all handled by the same guy- there's the design for the next major model, the update of that, any current problems and then redesigns of parts for service/ parts and accessories.

That's pretty much the order of priority as well. the truth is that with the headcount reductions we've seen only top priority stuff gets worked on, the rest is ignored.

Yes, we do redesign parts as a result of field experience, but in the past a field problem would have to be pretty expensive to get much attention. All these 6S guys running around looking for easy projects have been snapping these up, which makes sense to me, we should have done it years ago. Cheers

Greg Locock

 

[Tunalover]

In my career I've been repeatedly appalled by how short-sighted US business can be with regard to product development. In spite of the fact that it is demonstrated over and over again that the worst time to make design changes is after the product is released for production, the "bean counters" at the top still chop away at the product development budgets and still expect perfect designs to emerge from sparse budgets and schedules.

The Japanese long ago discovered the value of mature, engineering-driven business where most of the money is put up front where it really counts: in the product development phase. Result: lower overall costs and higher product quality. The key word is maturity; Japanese business decision aren't as heavily influenced by stockholders who expect "instant gratification" and rosey quarterly statements. The Japanese stakeholders (stockholders and executives ) are more mature in their business planning and expectations. Stockholders there expect ten and even twenty year plans and understand that quality products require time, planning, and heavy investment in engineering and R&D. Most US businesses are lucky to have even a five year plan!

Don't get me wrong, though. All things considered, I'd rather stay in the US than move to Japan! I would just like to see more maturity on the part of US stakeholders and see business executives learn from their mistakes, swallow their pride, have more patience with product development, and perhaps learn from other more successful manufacturers.

The old adage has applied EVERYWHERE I've worked: "There's never enough time to do it right the first time but there's always enough time to do it a second time."