Going ‘lean’ from the point a product is conceived

For the last several years, the buzzword in manufacturing has been “lean” – streamlined, efficient operations that reduce production costs.
Wakefield-based Boothroyd Dew-hurst Inc. believes in “lean” as well, but it likes to introduce the concept much earlier in the process: in the design. By streamlining products’ design, reducing the number of parts and materials required, and making items easier to assemble, the company believes it can cut costs far more radically for its clients.
At a forum last month at the Crowne Plaza at the Crossings in Warwick, about 20 presenters – Boothroyd Dewhurst clients and experts from around the world – offered examples of how that approach can benefit manufacturers and product developers.
One presenter, Harris Corp., based in Melbourne, Fla,, reported an estimated $4.3 million in savings due to the redesign of a two-way radio that reduced the number of parts from 78 to 18.
The company used software from Boothroyd Dewhurst, the first to commercialize “design for manufacture and assembly” methodologies and software tools more than 20 years ago.
Another presenter, Deere & Co., reported a 60-percent reduction in raw material costs because of the redesign of a harvester that reduced the number of parts from 17 to 10.
Over the past five years, Boothroyd Dewhurst also has developed a software tool that allows engineers doing a redesign to estimate the cost of producing different versions of a design, allowing them to make decisions based on cost effectiveness, said John Gilligan, president of the company.
“It’s been more important to the market as companies move into outsourcing their manufacturing,” he said, because they don’t have access to the manufacturing process anymore. “Having this tool gives them some eyes into the manufacturing process.”
Discussions at the recent conference, which Boothroyd Dewhurst founded and is now in its 22nd year, also focused on creativity in the product development process and on how to design lean processes.
Gilligan said the greatest benefit of his company’s software is “it challenges [clients] to look at their products in a different way while retaining the same function through fewer parts.”
Most of Boothroyd Dewhurst’s customers are medium- to large-sized manufacturers who have their own teams of in-house engineers in their research and development departments.
“Smaller companies probably don’t have the engineering teams that could use this,” he said.
That’s why any of the work the company does with smaller manufacturers usually results in contract work that involves Boothroyd Dewhurst engineering the redesign.
But that doesn’t mean the company does not have some trouble convincing upper-level management at manufacturing companies that they need to look at product design as well as the manufacturing process itself, Gilligan said.
Simplified design combined with lean practices can lead to double-digit savings, while lean manufacturing alone will often bring savings in the single digits, Gilligan said. That’s why events such as the conference June 19 and 20 are very important, he said.
“I think [the conference] is one of the best things we do,” Gilligan said.