Cost Based Design, A Fallacy?

The basic fact is that the product needs to have an optimized design based on the bare bones thought-through needs. Thought-through needs mean – NOT overdesigning because we are too lazy or busy to assess the real needs and not performing the required analysis.

There is just one optimum design that will truly meet the functional needs.

The OPTIMUM cost will follow. It may not appear to be the cheapest in the short run. However, it is bound to be – over the life of the product.

It is a fallacy to try to assess the cost of the part purely based on “should cost” models, no matter how good the sets of data behind the algorithms to predict the cost are.

The paper also provides an understanding of how cost of the product can be minimized in the design stage itself.

To learn more, download the full whitepaper.