the exhausted engineer - get.apriori.com

© 2020 aPriori – All rights reserved1

© 2020 - aPriori Confidential - All rights reserved

The Exhausted Engineer

Steve Green, Strategic Procurement Manager, Thales

Dave McDermaid, Business Consulting Director, aPriori

August 26, 2020

© 2020 - aPriori Confidential - All rights reserved3

Steve Green – Strategic Procurement ManagerApprenticeship – 1979

Drawing Office – Design

Production Engineering

Project Manager – Naval & Land

Installation – Test & Sea Trials

Manufacturing Manager – Naval Products

Supply Chain Manager/Materials Manager

Procurement Manager – Commodity Biased

Focused on providing Thales customers with the best

possible product that exceeds their expectations at

the right price to satisfy my business stakeholders.

"It does what it says on the tin.”


• 70% of product cost designed in at PRR level 7

− Prototype manufacture

• No real data to negotiate with− Limited and broader experiences

− Product knowledge confidence

The Challenge for Strategic Procurement


• Engineers have limited product knowledge and experience

• They can get upset when you ‘call their baby ugly’

• Contract Engineers used to fill resource gaps

− Not Thales focused

• Limited design to cost experience

• Value engineered products

• Greater customer time pressures

The Challenge for Engineering


• Hire more Engineers

• Hire more experienced Engineers

• Beat up the supply chain

• Bid at risk

• Lots of late stage change

What are our options?

• Compromised innovation

• Lost margin

• Lost contracts

• More internal stress

• Disappointed customers

Leading to


Dave McDermaid, Business Consulting DirectorApprenticeship – 1986

Drawing Office – Design

Production Engineering

Design Engineer – Hard Disk Drives

CAD Consultant

PLM Consultant

Consulting Manager

Business Consultant (aPriori)


Driving Need for Automated Early Warning of Cost & Manufacturability Issues

Product Development Challenges

Challenges Implications

• Pressure to reduce time to market & lower product costs

• Lack of engineering bandwidth

• Insufficient capacity in Cost Engineering

• Demand, workflow & supply chain disruption due to COVID-19

• ECOs causing late stage design churn

• Late product launches

• Failure to meet target costs & profit margins

• Go / No go decisions on projects?

100%

0% Completeness

Product Development & Delivery timeline

100%

0%

Target release date

Com

ple

teness


Design Progress

Purchasing Progress

100%

0%

Should we cast, fabricate, 3D Print or make from Composite?

What volumes?

Where do I buy?

Which process?

Which machine?

Target release date

Com

ple

teness


Design Progress

Purchasing Progress

100%

0%

Is this the most cost efficient design?

Is this a good supplier quotation?

Target release date

Com

ple

teness


Design Progress

Purchasing Progress

100%

0%

Target release date

Design changes as a result of

cost or manufacturability issues

Com

ple

teness

Target release date

100%

0%


Com

ple

teness

Design changes as a result of

cost or manufacturability issues


Do more

with the

same people

100%

0%

Com

ple

teness

Target release date


Com

ple

teness

100%

0%

Target release date

1stC

AD

Model

Rele

ase t

o P

roduction

Use the

‘Digital Twin’

To simulate

Manufacture

And cost within

‘Digital

Factories’

around the

world

SALES

Win more bids

at the right

margin

DESIGN

Design below

target cost and

reduce DFX

delays

MFG

Optimise

manufacturing

R&D

Identify cost

effective solutions

SOURCING

Reduce

outsourcing

costs

VAVE

Continuously

improve costs

VAVE

Manufacturability and Cost focus across the lifecycle


Cost Insight Generate

WHAT IF YOU

COULD…?

Identify the parts that have the most DTC and DFM issues.

Highlight the important cost drivers on these parts and provide guidance for remediation.

Get the right information to the right people at the right time.

Automatically analyze parts for cost & manufacturability when they are checked into PLM or a defined trigger.

Relevant cost content

(cost, DTC score,

report) stored/attached

in PLM system

3

Designs models in

CAD system, checks

them into PLM system

1

PLM

2

Manufacturing Simulation

Automated costing

of checked-in

models

DE clicks on link(s) in

email to see model(s)

in CI Design using

DFMC viewer

5

Cost Insight Design

DE notified via email:

manufacturability score

and cost status

4

Design Engineer

CAD Design

Cost Insight Generate

20

What would it mean to you?

WHAT IF YOU

COULD…?

Identify the parts that have the most DTC and DFM issues.

Highlight the important cost drivers on these parts and provide guidance for remediation.

Get the right information to the right people at the right time.

Automatically analyze parts for cost & manufacturability when they are checked into PLM or a defined trigger.


Q&A


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