
A global precision machinery manufacturer partnered with Looxent to enhance product quality and cost competitiveness, leveraging continuous operational improvements. Despite efforts in process optimization, make-or-buy strategies, purchasing optimization, and R&D-driven product enhancements, intense market competition—from high-performance European and Japanese manufacturers to low-cost Chinese producers—necessitated innovative approaches beyond traditional measures. The client aimed to identify transformative strategies and initiated an R&D-focused product improvement initiative as part of a broader Operations Value-Up program with Looxent.
The Challenge of Product Diversity and Customization
The client faced significant challenges due to a highly diverse product portfolio and frequent customization demands. Each engineer was responsible for specific product lines, dedicating substantial resources to meet bespoke customer requirements swiftly. While individual product optimization remained an option, the high resource requirements and limited scalability necessitated a different approach. The decision was made to adopt a cross-product improvement strategy with a focus on standardization and part commonality.
Pre-Implementation: Analyzing the Component Landscape
Standardization and commonization required a foundational understanding of the existing component landscape. This began with collecting and organizing Bill of Materials (BOM) data across all product lines. While many companies utilize systems such as Product Data Management (PDM) for design and part databases, the information often falls short of providing actionable insights for standardization initiatives.
To address this, the client established a Task Force Team (TFT) dedicated to central analysis. The team categorized similar components based on purpose, key specifications, geometry, usage volumes, and unit costs. This meticulous data structuring allowed the identification of trends and opportunities previously obscured by disorganized data. By focusing on building a comprehensive fact-based database, the path toward meaningful standardization and commonization became clearer.
Developing Immediate and Long-Term Solutions
With the component database in place, the team shifted to defining standardization and commonization strategies. While long-term goals included the establishment of technical design standards and reference specifications applicable to new product development, the realization of these benefits was inherently time-consuming. Thus, the team also prioritized short-term, actionable solutions.
Surprisingly, several immediate opportunities emerged. For example:
- Unnecessary Duplication: Technically similar components were being maintained in parallel due to historical design decisions.
- Cost Disparities: Identical specifications were associated with different costs due to redundant sourcing.
These issues represented low-hanging fruit, allowing the client to achieve tangible results quickly while laying the groundwork for more extensive future improvements.
Results and Organizational Impact
Focusing on standardization and commonization across all product lines resulted in quantifiable benefits, delivering 160% greater outcomes compared to typical product-specific optimizations. This initiative also highlighted the limitations of past product-specific optimizations and emphasized the importance of unifying design concepts from a holistic perspective.
To sustain these improvements, the client committed to:
- Centralized Control: A centralized structure to manage standardization and prevent future design fragmentation.
- Dedicated Resources: Establishing a specialized team to lead standardization and commonization efforts across additional critical component categories.
The initiative reinforced the critical role of consultants in defining overarching improvement strategies, enabling engineers to focus on efficient execution. Product improvement may remain the domain of specialized R&D teams, but analytical and strategic support from consultants ensures alignment and maximizes impact.
The client is now equipped to advance its product improvement efforts and maintain a competitive edge in the global market.
A global precision machinery manufacturer partnered with Looxent to enhance product quality and cost competitiveness, leveraging continuous operational improvements. Despite efforts in process optimization, make-or-buy strategies, purchasing optimization, and R&D-driven product enhancements, intense market competition—from high-performance European and Japanese manufacturers to low-cost Chinese producers—necessitated innovative approaches beyond traditional measures. The client aimed to identify transformative strategies and initiated an R&D-focused product improvement initiative as part of a broader Operations Value-Up program with Looxent.
The Challenge of Product Diversity and Customization
The client faced significant challenges due to a highly diverse product portfolio and frequent customization demands. Each engineer was responsible for specific product lines, dedicating substantial resources to meet bespoke customer requirements swiftly. While individual product optimization remained an option, the high resource requirements and limited scalability necessitated a different approach. The decision was made to adopt a cross-product improvement strategy with a focus on standardization and part commonality.
Pre-Implementation: Analyzing the Component Landscape
Standardization and commonization required a foundational understanding of the existing component landscape. This began with collecting and organizing Bill of Materials (BOM) data across all product lines. While many companies utilize systems such as Product Data Management (PDM) for design and part databases, the information often falls short of providing actionable insights for standardization initiatives.
To address this, the client established a Task Force Team (TFT) dedicated to central analysis. The team categorized similar components based on purpose, key specifications, geometry, usage volumes, and unit costs. This meticulous data structuring allowed the identification of trends and opportunities previously obscured by disorganized data. By focusing on building a comprehensive fact-based database, the path toward meaningful standardization and commonization became clearer.
Developing Immediate and Long-Term Solutions
With the component database in place, the team shifted to defining standardization and commonization strategies. While long-term goals included the establishment of technical design standards and reference specifications applicable to new product development, the realization of these benefits was inherently time-consuming. Thus, the team also prioritized short-term, actionable solutions.
Surprisingly, several immediate opportunities emerged. For example:
These issues represented low-hanging fruit, allowing the client to achieve tangible results quickly while laying the groundwork for more extensive future improvements.
Results and Organizational Impact
Focusing on standardization and commonization across all product lines resulted in quantifiable benefits, delivering 160% greater outcomes compared to typical product-specific optimizations. This initiative also highlighted the limitations of past product-specific optimizations and emphasized the importance of unifying design concepts from a holistic perspective.
To sustain these improvements, the client committed to:
The initiative reinforced the critical role of consultants in defining overarching improvement strategies, enabling engineers to focus on efficient execution. Product improvement may remain the domain of specialized R&D teams, but analytical and strategic support from consultants ensures alignment and maximizes impact.
The client is now equipped to advance its product improvement efforts and maintain a competitive edge in the global market.