Sandy Munro will speak at the American Manufacturing Strategies Summit 2011 in Chicago on November 7th at 3:45pm. The American Manufacturing Strategies Summit 2011 brings together over 300 industry manufacturing leaders and specialists for the advancement of manufacturing. The American Manufacturing Strategy Awards will take place on the evening of November 7th to recognize outstanding achievment in manufacturing. Awards will be assessed by a prestigious panel of experts, selected from the American Manufacturing industry.

For more information please visit http://www.manufacturing-summit.com

Ask any self-respecting manufacturing person if he can make something and the usual response is something like, “I can make anything.”  Often they do.  Manufacturing people will stand on their heads to make something work, and sometimes they literally do just that.  This leads to the natural question, “Why?” 

Coming up with a design that functions reliably and meets demanding customer requirements is getting harder all the time.  The technology of today’s products and equipment is mind-blowing.  To witness the feats of our defense systems is like being in the future.  The instant capability at our society’s fingertips is scary.  What’s more amazing is that this is all getting even better every day.  The world is on fire creating the next best thing that will mesmerize consumers and magnetize wealth.  Yes, the design engineer’s job grows more challenging with each nano-instant.

Whether you are in defense, aerospace, medical, auto or consumer products, in every segment, the global markets demand lower costs, better reliability and more value.  Your development team must wring out all the waste, starting at the design.

Producibility and confidence are crucial to good design.  This is a topic that Munro has studied and wrestled for over 2 decades.  We asked the question, “What are the factors that determine producibility and confidence?”  Then we set out to quantify those factors and develop objective measures.  The result is a “Producibility Index” and a “Confidence Index.”  These indices provide both a single, simple measure to which design engineers can gauge their designs, and also indicate what aspects of their designs can be improved. 

The producibility index is comprised of ten factors in four groups, as follows:

–        Architecture Elegance

•     Term 1 (P₁): Minimizes Subassembly Interface Costs

•       Term 2 (P₂): Minimizes Nested Subassembly Supplier Costs

–        Value Optimization

•          Term 3 (P₃): Drive System Design (Less Secondary Parts)

•          Term 4 (P₄): Drives Reduction of Fastener & Connector Usage

–        Assembly Elegance

•          Term 5 (P₅): Drives Leaner Manufacturing Process

•          Term 6 (P₆): Drives Improved Ease of Handling & Placement

•          Term 7 (P₇): Drives Improved Ease of Assembly

•          Term 8 (P₈): Minimizes Dwell Time in Process

–        Quality Improvement

      •          Term 9 (P₉): Minimizes Quality Issues
•          Term 10 (P₁₀): Minimizes Variation

The Confidence Index is comprised of four factors as follows:

•  Percentage of Specifications Captured by Modeled Assemblies

–        Assembly Knowledge (PC₂)

•  Percentage of Subassemblies with Analyzed Assembly Processes

–        Part Knowledge (PC₃)

•  Percentage of Subassemblies and Parts Analyzed for Handling and Placement

–        Infrastructure Knowledge (PC₄)

•  Average of the MRL of Each of the Key Critical Components

Munro has been collecting data and measuring designs for over 20 years.  In the process we have developed our Design Profit methods and tool that enable the capture and roll-up of metrics associated with producibility and confidence.  Using Design Profit, your development team can record and track these metrics as the design is conceived and matured.  The addition of the producibility and confidence indices will provide objective metrics to encourage more attention to these areas and feedback to where the engineers can improve their designs. 

For more information on Producibility and Confidence Indices paper, click here.

Munro Awarded GSA Schedule

Munro & Associates, Inc., specialists in should-cost analysis and total cost reduction, is pleased to announce the award of its GSA Schedule for Professional Engineering Services from the General Services Administration (GSA). The schedule, contract number GS-10F-0276X, allows Munro & Associates to provide products and services to government agencies as an approved, preferred vendor, and expedites the process of obtaining government contracts.

"Being awarded this GSA contract is an important development in Munro & Associates' history, and marks our expansion into a new and significant market for us," said Munro & Associates' VP Business Development, Joe Feord. "We look forward to providing Government agencies with the cost-effective solutions that have made us so valued by our many commercial clients."

Munro provides detailed cost analyses to provide clear direction upstream to make informed decisions that result in on-cost, on-time, capable, reliable products.  With a sole focus for 23 years on exposing and quantifying drivers of cost, Munro provides robust methods for efficiently and accurately representing all the steps, parts, tools, operations, personnel, and, more importantly, the potentials for failure and rework.  This forecasts the should-cost and will-cost for any product, service or operation, and pin-points the root drivers so that remedies can be implemented to avoid future pain.

"It has been a benefit to be only focused in this area," said Joe Feord. "We have learned a tremendous amount about what works and what doesn't. Now we are pleased to be positioned to help the DOD get in front of the future costs so we can make them better."