Efficient Designs Save Over $1,000,000 in Annual Manufacturing Costs

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The COMPETITIVE Challenge

A leading commercial vehicle manufacturer was looking for ways to protect its market share in an increasingly competitive economy by building more efficient vehicles while achieving manufacturing cost savings. EPS was engaged to analyze five different well-established vehicle components with a focus on performance and cost improvement. Specifically, the company wanted to determine if alternate designs could be developed that would provide the established strength characteristics while reducing material profile areas – the end goal being to reduce raw material costs while maintaining product integrity and performance.

The ENGINEERED Solution

EPS engineers developed several alternative designs for each assembly part, many of which not only provided a reduction in raw material costs but also made the parts easier to manufacture. First, they created three-dimensional models for each part and constructed small assemblies. Then, EPS worked with the engineering staff to determine the loading required for each assembly; where a performance measure wasn’t established, vehicle dynamic analysis was performed to computationally determine product performance requirements. Next, the EPS team developed new lower-profile designs and created computational models via Finite Element Analysis (computer structural simulation). Prototyping of the vehicle materials proceeded within weeks; independent physical testing was performed; and then full vehicle testing. Full-scale vehicle testing confirmed the performance of the newly designed, more cost effective and competitive parts.

The PROFITABLE Results

Using the computational modeling, EPS engineers were able to accurately project the annual cost savings achievable with the new designs. Along with options that could be implemented immediately or seamlessly at no cost; EPS also offered long-term options to assembly design for next generation products. For each component, EPS generated a comprehensive report on existing and proposed designs.

The ANNUAL COST SAVINGS Impact

Immediate cost savings were achieved through the redesign of these components: