A concept may require some “tweaking” to place it in the exceptional product category. With your product sample and some comprehensive dialogue, we can effectively explore viable product improvement options.
Improving Products Require Re-Engineering
Whether it is for stronger performance, enhanced durability, improved functionality or to reduce cost, SealWerks’ in-house design and engineering team takes the time to assess individual concerns and goals for your product. When you require the re-engineering of a product, we are your partners in creating product improvements that not only enhance an already good product, but also offer new options that can benefit the success of the product.
What We Need from You
The best place to start in the re-engineering of a product is to have dimensionally accurate drawings, knowing the type of material used in the past, and a good understanding of the product’s intended function. This will help to speed up the re-engineering process, and if these items are not attainable, a product sample can be reverse engineered for the purpose of targeted design change.
SealWerks Supports Customer/Supplier Integrity
We are a contract manufacturer and do not check on the potential of patent infringement. We urge you to take reasonable steps to ensure that you are not infringing on any existing patents or patent-pending status of an item.
Non-Disclosure Agreements
We do honor non-disclosure agreements and only disclose select design elements or construction aspects when necessary with the permission of the customer. The sole purpose of attaining specific information is to work toward a targeted objective for you as a customer. The best example would be working with in-house or other tooling and die makers and material suppliers to improve the durability, functionality or the configuration of a product.
Assessing New Redesigned Products
Any new or redesigned product must be assessed from a few different perspectives. A few critical product and manufacturing aspects are:
- Material cost
- Actual manufacturing time
- Functionality and design
- The cost of tooling
Material Cost
Material cost is probably the most straight forward of the four points. There are hard numbers for the cost of materials for a given design and quantity. The per-unit material cost is a business decision for the most part and we can present material options. Many times an increased material cost can be offset by a reduction in actual manufacturing time, an increase of overall sales volume, or a larger one time production run.
Manufacturing Time
Actual manufacturing time can be negatively impacted by design changes, but that can be offset with tooling changes or tooling upgrades in some situations. Another business decision: will the design changes that caused the fluctuation in actual manufacturing time positively impact overall sales or allow manufacture of the unit with a less expensive material? We will help to determine whether any changes in how the tooling, material selection and production process can be changed or modified to help the product become more financially successful.
Functionality and Design
The desired functionality and design of the unit dictate the material cost and the actual manufacturing time. This is the starting point for all aspects in determining the manufacture, functionality and per unit cost of your product.
Tooling Costs
The tooling, design and per unit cost aspect are dictated by the design and material selection. Production efficiency can be improved by going to multi-cavity dies, progressive tooling arrangements and turntable set-ups. Each of these aspects play an important, and sometimes expensive role in achieving a final product. The cost for any of the above should be balanced to meet the overall goals of the products intended function.
SealWerks will accurately quantify and project how each one of these four critical aspects will impact the overall cost, allowing you to adjust and balance each one as a way to meet your target numbers.
