Engineering & Design For Manufacturing Assistance Creates Big Savings

How our customers achieved lower costs with Staub Manufacturing Solutions’s engineering & design assistance

Around nine months ago, a customer approached us about a new project that they were in the process of prototyping. They already designed the entire unit, with CAD drawings available. The company was simply looking for someone to work with to manufacture the unit in production.

During our initial meeting & conversation with the customer, they made several comments. They would like to find ways to save money on this project because it was coming in way over budget. Once we understood the important features of their design & the unit, we began looking at ways to improve processes and reduce costs. We took into consideration the functionality requirements, cosmetic needs, envelope / size restrictions, & final assembly requirements.

After careful review of the project, we offered several design changes that improved the material usage, consolidated the material types required, improved process flow & times (by changing the type of process in some instances), worked with the customer to communize the hardware & built in error proofing features to assist with ease of assembly. These efforts ultimately helped to lower the cost of the final unit. This thrilled the customer, and they incorporated these changes into the design. As the project moved forward, the customer required several revisions in an attempt to optimize the final product.

Over the next several months as revisions were made, we continued to offer engineering assistance. This streamlined not only the design, but the manufacturability of the unit that would ultimately help with final product production. Once a final design was reached, the customer had included almost all of our suggestions, and we were ready to figure out a final cost on the unit. From the original design of the unit to the new streamlined design, we were able to lower the cost of the unit over 25%!

Since then, we have built several operating units, and they are currently being tested in the field. The customer is telling us that the feedback is going great. We should start ongoing, long-term production sometime in the first quarter.

The customer appreciated the improvements we made to the unit, which resulted in a sizeable savings. They conveyed that the market will be able to handle the price point a lot better than the original design.

Frankly, this isn’t the first time that we have achieved these types of results (unfortunately, not all of them result in 25% savings). There have been numerous occasions like this over the past 27 years when we have sat down with our customers to work out the best solutions for them. Don’t just take our word for it, here is a testimonial from one of our customers:

“We have been a delighted customer of Staub Manufacturing Solutions for many years. What we truly appreciate about Staub is their professional approach to the product development process. Their practical advice regarding manufacturability always helps us avoid unnecessary costs.”

Joe M. – Sales Engineer

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CASE STUDY: “Can We Make the Parts In-House Cheaper?”

A client wonders if they can more affordably make their own parts in-house

Close to 20 years ago, we began talking with a potential customer about making some of their components. These are fairly simple parts, just laser cutting, press brake forming and sometimes machining and assembly is also needed.

They had tried a few other suppliers but were not having any luck with receiving quality parts on-time.

We won a few parts initially and that eventually grew to making over 100 different part numbers for the company. Everything was going well. By allowing us to make a few design changes, we were able to lower prices on several products over time. We even we set up an inventory system, delivering them parts twice a week.

Over the next 15 years, the customer’s business continued to grow, and they were looking for ways to cut cost. Five years ago, the decision was made: the company was to purchase their own laser cutting machine and press brakes. They planned to save both time and money by bringing the outsourced processes in-house. They let us know that they had started looking at equipment and sometime over the next year they would make the final decision and install the new equipment. We of course were disappointed, but continued to be a reliable supplier.

For the next eight months the company reviewed the hard data such as technical requirements, machine costs, part-time studies, floor space, infrastructure needs, material flow, software needs, industrial gasses, material racks, dust collection systems, power needs, etc. They also reviewed the soft data like the amount of training needed, skilled operator and programmer needs, as well as a lack of expertise for this type of in-house equipment. At the suggestion of one of their team members, they also began to review pricing and performance of suppliers. After carefully reviewing all the data, the company made their final decision.

Once the company reviewed the hard and soft data, they decided that it didn’t make economic sense to bring the equipment in-house. The company concluded they are best to focus on their core competencies: design, final assembly and sales of core products. We of course were excited to hear the good news. They said that when taking into account all the hard data as well as our quality, delivery and competitive pricing, they were far better off to use the money they had set aside to expand their core competencies.

Since then, they have done just that. Over the past five years the customer has expanded into more automation in the assembly of their products, added onto their facility and have also increased their product offerings. During that time, we have continued to do what we always do, make quality parts, and deliver them on-time.

Contact Staub Manufacturing Solutions today to see how we can help your business similarly thrive.

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CASE STUDY: Reliability, Making The Exact Same Part Since 1997

Staub Manufacturing Solutions opened for business in April of 1997. Like all new business, things were slow at first. But we kept focusing on the important values of our business; do the right thing, make quality products and deliver them on time.

In December of 1997 we received a phone call from a local company asking if we could look at a project for them. They said it was urgent and wanted someone to stop by the next morning to see if we could help. When I arrived, they gave me the complete background. This was a brand-new product that had just launched in September and sales were really starting to increase. The problem was their current supplier not only was having trouble keeping up, they were also having a lot of quality issues and a high rejection rate! Frankly, the customer was drowning and looking for a lifeline. They had heard about our quality reputation and wanted to see if we could help them out of this situation.

I went back to the shop, and we immediately began working on a solution. We quoted the project and the customer called us back within 5 minutes of us sending the quote over. They said we were competitive and wanted to know how fast we could produce 10,000 pieces! Business was a little slow at the time, so we were able to start on the project right away. (There were only a few of us at the time. I still remember running the parts all night and delivering them to the customer each day).

As soon as we delivered the last shipment to complete the initial 10,000 piece order, they told us how happy they were with our high quality components, and then they placed another order for 10,000 more pieces! During that first year of production, we made somewhere around 30,000 pieces and that volume continued for several years. I really don’t remember the exact number; that was a long time ago!

A few things have changed over the years with this project. Unfortunately, our original contact passed away about 15 years ago and the company even changed ownership two years ago. One other big thing that has changed on this project are the volumes. Due to the lifecycle of this project, we no longer make 30,000 pieces per year. Today we are only making around 1,500 pieces per year.

However, nearly 27 years later, we still make the part and the part has not changed. Frankly, neither has our focus on making a quality part and delivering it on time. Someday the project will end and honestly, I’ll be a little sad when that happens. Oh, sure we have other projects that we have been running for well over 15 years or even close to 20 years, but this part is different. This part is the longest running part that we have made for a customer, and frankly it was a big boost in business at a time when we really needed it. But that’s ok, even when we stop producing this particular part; we’ll continue doing the right thing, making parts, making them the right way, treating our customers right and doing all that on a timeline that works out the best for our customer.

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CASE STUDY: It’s Hard To Stay In Business If You Don’t Have Any Product To Sell

In the Summer of 2021, we were contacted by a company in the electrical systems business about fabricating some of their products. Since their company’s founding in the mid-2000s, they had sourced their entire product line to China. But COVID had now brought international shipping to a halt, and being solely reliant on Chinese manufacturers had dealt a devastating blow to their business.

Customers were needing their products but this company had literally nothing to sell. They could not even get repair parts to help previous customers. After months waiting on parts to show up, they decided to investigate having their products made in America. As they told us, “It’s hard to stay in business if you don’t have any product to sell.”

Truth be told, even before the crisis caused by the COVID shutdown, they had been facing significant issues with overseas manufacturing. Because of the extra time needed for shipping across the ocean, forecasting was difficult and inventory levels had to be kept artificially elevated to make sure they always had product in stock. They also had experienced issues with inconsistent quality and shipping damage.

The company put together a list of potential suppliers and set-up times for their team to visit each facility. When they came to us, we spent a lot of time with their team reviewing the goals for their product line, then we toured our facility showing them our processes and quality standards. They had visited several other fabrication companies but, in the end, felt that we had the systems in place to ensure the product quality and on-time delivery they needed.

We began producing parts for them in the fall of 2021 and it has developed into a great working relationship. The company no longer has to hold a large inventory of products and, with our reasonable lead times, they have been able to decrease their inventory and increase their cash flow. They also don’t have to order extra parts anymore to make up for fallout due to quality issues. Of course, our pricing is higher than they were paying to have the items produced in China, but they are happy to pay a little more to have a much better sourcing experience and actually have products to sell.

Many U.S. manufacturers have a global supply chain and that can certainly appear to have advantages in terms of pricing. However, many of them are learning the hard way that the overall cost to the company of having items produced overseas can be much higher than the initial savings.

If you are interested in learning more about the benefits of reshoring, please visit the Reshoring Initiative and be sure to try the TCO Estimator!

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CASE STUDY: Quality and Consistency Reduce Inventory, Lower Costs and Eliminate Hassle

In 2012 a company contacted us about fabricating some aluminum racks. Their current supplier was causing them a lot of issues. Deliveries were always late, parts had to be reworked during assembly, and product installation was a hassle.

On the surface, the project looked like a good fit for us. The fabricated racks were complex but well-designed and manufacturable, the production volumes were good, and it required processes that were core to our business.

The potential customer stressed two requirements: the product needed to be consistent (high quality every time); and we would need to be competitive on price with their current supplier. Since we have always maintained industry-leading quality metrics and we work hard to be competitive in the market, we were not concerned.

Then they told us that the units were being manufactured in Mexico. We were up-front and told them that our pricing would most certainly be higher than their current supplier but, if they chose to work with us, we were confident that we could eliminate the costly, ongoing quality issues. We both agreed to continue the conversation.

The more we talked with the customer about their goals for these units, the more they kept talking about the need for consistency. The reason for this is that the way these fabricated racks are used by the final customers requires complete interchangeability. The racks are set up in stores in various configurations and occasionally changed out for new ones. When they are changed out, the new rack needs to fit exactly into the same spot as the one that was removed and fasten together without issue. The racks that were coming out of Mexico were not consistent at all. Rack width and height varied and mounting brackets would never line up. A change out would take days and the customer needed it done in hours.

The other major issue for our prospective customer was the lack of on-time delivery. Because of this, they were forced to place larger orders and inventory a lot of extra units just to make sure that they could deliver the units to their customer when they were needed.

The company did end up ordering this product from us at a higher (but competitive) price and when they received our initial delivery, they were thrilled. Not only did we deliver on time, but their assembly staff was amazed how easily everything fit together, saving them a lot of time and hassle.

We accomplished the high level of consistency they were looking for by building poka-yokes into many of the fabricated components and incorporating the use of several fixtures into the welding process. As we moved into full production on these units, we found other ways to improve the process and the product which allowed us to offer significant savings to our customer.

For twelve years now we have been the primary supplier of this product, fabricating thousands of high-quality, interchangeable racks and delivering them on-time. Our customer is now able to maintain their production schedule without excess inventory, assembly is efficient and routine, and final installation is easy and quick as required.

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