Product Industrial Engineering

Industrial engineering is concerned with the design, improvement, and installation of integrated systems of men, materials, and equipment on the dimensions of efficiency, productivity and cost. The basic purpose of industrial engineering is cost reduction. This can be achieved by following several methods at different steps of product or process engineering. The industrial engineering done on product design to reduce the unit cost of the product at the end of production and distribution stage (extended in recent days to life cycle cost) is termed product industrial engineering.

Examining product design to suggest some simple and obvious changes in external features and tolerances was part of early industrial engineering proposed by Taylor, Gilbreth, Maynard, Barnes, Currie and Mundel. But value engineering proposed by L.D. Miles advocated radical redesign of the components and products to reduce the unit cost of a product. Today, value engineering is to be described as the main method in value engineering. Design for manufacturing and design for assembly were developed subsequently as methods to examine and redesign products to reduce cost by making manufacturing and assembly easy and less costly.


Redesign of a product that is accepted by the market by identifying waste and eliminating it is product industrial engineering.

Value engineering is the best method developed for doing product industrial engineering.

Industrial engineers recognized the need to evaluate the design of the product to reduce cost of production very early in the development of industrial engineering discipline.

But early industrial engineering articles were very conservative and they hinted at some specific features only for redesign.

But value engineering made a frontal attack on original design and showed that there is substantial cost savings potential in redesign based on the combined attack by design, manufacturing and purchase department people with value analysis and engineering methodology. Thus we can say product industrial engineering emerged as an important area in industrial engineering with the emergence of value analysis and engineering approach.

Subsequently design for manufacture and assembly came up as an additional method in product industrial engineering.

Japanese brought in fresh thought in reducing costs of product development.

The idea is liked by IISE in this FaceBook link.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/IIEnet/10158237195450562/?comment_id=10158239939285562

Product Industrial Engineering Services offered as Product cost optimization services by an organization

Lean Product Development
Standardization & Modularization
Value Engineering
Engineering Collaboration


Lean Product Development

Lean product development is designed to optimize product costs through reductions in time-to-market, design optimization and linear processes. Lean product development, when practiced during floor-level engineering, can help your company optimize product cost by simplifying the design process, and delivering on the following benefits:

Optimized design and development phase
Full integration and alignment of engineers, technology and processes, providing full functional synergy for simplified product development
Significant reductions in resource waste

Through lean product development, products are developed with optimal standardization and modularization opportunities, as well as DFX, all throughout the design phase. This lowers costs both during and after development.

Design continuity and process synchronization
Practicing lean product development helps companies achieve simultaneous execution through linear design processes. Synchronized functionality makes it simple for companies to achieve repeatable, consistent results.

Standardization & Modularization
Manufacturers, especially those with cross geographical design and development teams, often lack standardized processes. Often, this causes teams to reinvent the wheel, which creates more unnecessary work among the various teams, similar parts being designed and developed for each separate location, and duplicated efforts for development, validation and approvals.

B-WI has proven time after time that implementing standardization and modularization processes help to:
Reduce product development time – faster to market
Save on the cost for each part through mass production and volume discounts
Reduce product risks
Reduce R&D costs, particularly design and testing costs
Save in part-ordering costs, cost to maintain a supplier
Reduce annual cost to store and maintain a part
Eliminate “duplicate” designs
Improve product reliability – using proven parts and design whose reliability has already been established
Reduce the number of new product re-designs by avoiding obsolete, long lead-time, or non-compliant parts

Manufacturers who implement standardization and modularization practices also have the added benefit of streamlining their product offerings, which result in:  

Lean supply chain management – freeing up team members who can be deployed to improve productivity and part quality reduce rejections
Reduced overhead costs, resulting in reduced part cost
Improved operational flexibility, resulting in reliable delivery


Solution Components - Standardization

Identification of opportunities for standardization
Part, Process, Raw Material, Tool
Evaluation of the impacts and resulting benefits
Cost savings and quality improvements
Challenges in Inward logistics, if any
Serviceability of products in the field
Available stock and disposal
Prototype, test and approve the change

Solution Components - Modularization

Brainstorming and identification of opportunities
Conceptualization of the module and evolving the roadmap(s)
Tabulation of the qualitative and quantitative benefits
Shortlisting of potential candidates and proposal for the budget
Detailed design upon approval

Value Analysis/Value Engineering (VAVE)
Over time, new products in the market eventually lose their market position as competitor products with lower prices or more features are introduced. With this reality, product managers must find ways, like lowering prices or improving quality to maintain their market share.
Value Engineering enables reduced product costs in an optimal, design-conscious way that preserves the quality while sustaining the functionality and features of the product.
http://www.barry-wehmillerinternational.com/engineering-solutions/product-development-solutions/product-cost-optimization


Related Posts

Process Industrial Engineering

Management Process Industrial Engineering

Manufacturing Process Industrial Engineering

Inspection Process Industrial Engineering

Maintenance Process Industrial Engineering




Multi-objective optimization approach for cost management during product design at the conceptual phase
K. G. Durga PrasadEmail authorK. Venkata SubbaiahK. Narayana Rao
Journal of Industrial Engineering International
April 2014
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40092-014-0048-8




Updated on  14 June 2017, 21 March 2017,

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