Design to Thrive

This FBCA exercise can be a valuable part of a manufacturer's product lifecycle management strategy. For one thing, close collaboration within the design process can foster more innovative thinking and lead to better designs and product quality, as well as faster time-to-market. In many collaborative NPI teams, a light seems to go on when the team members realize the specific reasons why costs can be reduced. They can then assign actionable tasks to each other for achieving the reduction.

Advanced, collaborative FBCA software solutions enable decision-makers across the entire supply chain – from design, engineering and product planning, to supply management, manufacturing and finance – to better understand what drives product costs. This, in turn, helps all participants to make more informed and realistic decisions about how best to reduce and/or better manage actual costs, which can ultimately lead to new product success or failure.

Bottom-line Benefits and ROI

The primary objective and bottom-line benefits of FBCA are faster product launches with higher margins. In today's world of global supply chains, manufacturers are pressured to work harder and smarter than ever to hold the line on new product development, materials and production costs if they hope to remain competitive and profitable.

With the powerful analytics of FBCA, companies are better able to leverage the combined knowledge of their product development and supply chain professionals to identify new and innovative ways to manage costs. Some companies already using this advanced technology solution have reduced costs by as much as 15 to 20 percent for categories of parts, adding up to significant savings and improved business performance. Achieving these goals will help spell success for any manufacturer's new product introductions.

About the Author: Brett Holland is senior vice president of product development at Akoya Inc., a Northfield, Ill.-based developer of product lifecycle management solutions. In the past, Holland served as CEO of BoxDirect and vice president of new product development for PaperExchange. More information at www.akoyainc.com.