What really is in good engineering design beyond the superficial condition of an item? What shows that potential within?
With 75% of of the cost of a product being locked-in by the designers it is critical that the design (and specifically the concept) is as right as it can be from the off. Why then is Cost Reduction even a thing then if we make every effort to get the design right?
Many designers are sensitive to product cost during development, but rarely is a design revisited once released to manufacture. What’s almost always overlooked is that it is the total cost that is important and that this is affected by many factors that vary over time. Down-stream cost reduction can identify opportunities to reduce costs and therefore to increase profits.