International Appliance Manufacturing 2008 - (Page 6) Competitiveness, Cost Reduction And Risk Avoidance At Source Mike Sullivan, Director Engineering & Operations Improvement, Rosti Technical Plastics When we look at appliance manufacturing in the context of shorter model life cycles, it is clear that while modern manufacturers seek to deliver high quality end-user products – they must also find ways to recover the costs associated with product development and production against fewer sales per model type. High Volume High Capital investment based strategies cease to be viable for cosmetic components and user interface modules, as these features in particular are subject to the most frequent design revisions. But as this paper explains, there are alternative ways to recoup development costs and retain added value in the production of components for appliances. With a strong heritage in the development and deployment of injection moulding processes for the appliance manufacturing sector worldwide, leading international company Rosti Technical Plastics has successfully developed manufacturing strategies that can deliver high variety, without incurring the excessive overhead burdens associated with frequent model changes. This paper explores modern development techniques that deliver robust, Right First Time, cost-optimised manufacturing. And by tackling these issues at the very start of the product development process – we will show how to build in competitiveness, reduce cost and avoid risk throughout the production process. To maximise profitability out of shorter model life cycles, modern appliance manufacturers must reduce capital costs and the associated risks of under-recovery. To achieve this, manufacturing flexibility is essential – and a manufacturing partner must be well equipped to respond to these challenges. A successful manufacturing strategy will deliver high variety without the excessive overhead burdens that arise from frequent, capacity-consuming changeovers. For example, if we consider the increasing popularity of “In Mould Labelling” (IML), Rosti is a leader in Appliance IML development (see International Appliance manufacturer 2007: ‘In mould labelling for the appliance industry’) precisely because the high quality values imparted by IML are created within the graphic and in mould application technique. When the application technique is common to a model range, nearly all of the cost of model variety is contained within the foil printing process – which allows the manufacturer to leverage competitive cost, variety and added value. And it is this principle that places product development strategies under constant review at Rosti. Because we have to ask, how can the cost drivers within Product Creation, Product Development, Tooling Development and Process Optimisation be streamlined? Identifying & measuring the cost of component development Rosti’s approach has been to identify and measure the costs of component development across a broad spectrum of markets - from domestic appliances and business machines, to automotive and medical appliances - and to then categorise them. In so doing, we have found that manufacturers often assume cost generators to be unavoidable and therefore integrated within fixed overheads. Yet by applying new software tools and technology, it is 6 International Appliance Manufacturing 2008
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