THE FIELD ENGINEERING TEAM SUGGESTED AN ALTERNATIVE MANUFACTURING PROCESS RESULTING IN A PIECE PRICE SAVINGS OF $33,310 ANNUALLY.
Field received a request from a current customer to provide a quote for an expensive kit that contained four pieces of a stainless steel custom fastener with a “D” shaped head. The kit was identified as an item that needed to be supplied at a lower cost.
Upon receiving the samples, the engineers at Field initiated a review of the part and noted the parts were a welded 2-piece design. The Field engineering team reviewed the application details with the customer engineering team and led them through a fit, form, and function review of the part. Once the team understood how the fastener was used, Field began work on a lower cost solution.
After the evaluation of the 2-piece welded design, the Field engineering team worked with key manufacturers to create a lower cost 1-piece design. A fully defined proposal drawing and physical samples were provided to the customer for evaluation.
After testing the new 1-piece design, the customer approved the new part without issue. The new design functioned just as well, if not better, than the current more expensive part. The new part also has an improved appearance; important because this component will be ultimately installed on the product by the end-user. This project successfully met the PPV goals for this kit.
Old Price: $7.88 per kit
New Price: $4.18 each
Savings of $3.70 per kit
Piece Price Savings: $33,310 annually