The Line on Design: How to Reduce Material Cost by Eliminating Design Waste

Years ago, “lean” thinking captured the imaginations of manufacturers as they tried to eliminate much of the waste inherent in their production processes. Before long, companies began using the same lean principles in designing products. But of the popular approaches used to reduce design waste, most, if not all, had fatal flaws.

This paper, The Line on Design, introduces a fundamentally new approach to eliminating design waste. It describes A.T. Kearney’s proprietary three-pronged approach, which a handful of companies are using to successfully reduce design waste and cut costs.

The approach is performed by two categories of teams-lean design teams and bookshelf project teams. Lean design teams “learn to see” design waste with the help of a cadre of waste identification tools, while bookshelf project teams validate the design improvement to ensure that it can be effectively incorporated into the product. Traditionally, the biggest disadvantage to design improvements has been the penalties they incur, such as lost revenues or margins due to a delayed product launch; the validation process, however, effectively mitigates this risk.

This paper outlines how to identify design cost reductions before, or in parallel with, new product development. It also introduces option strategies to manage risk and highlights key success factors, such as bringing material suppliers aboard early in the design process. Combined, lean design and lean manufacturing provide industrial companies with a complete arsenal to attack waste.

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