BarMaxx didn’t win.

Boeing did.  Their pitch was very impressive; it will save their customer millions a day.  But their R&D budget is probably thousands of times bigger than BarMaxx’s. The other finalist was Parker Hannifin, a measly $13 billion dollar corporation, a tier 1 automotive ,aerospace and industrial supplier who counts Boeing as one of their larger customers. I actually liked their pitch the best, sorry Boeing.

But we will never know if little BarMaxx came in a close second or a distant third. because they did not announce anything more than the winners.  But you know, I think BarMaxx is still a winner.  Because we played a doubleheader with Boeing and didn’t get trounced. It’s the company you keep.

Way to go, BarMaxx. We’ll get ‘em next year.

Chuck

That sad of course, some failures carry a higher price than others.  And the cost of failure can’t be ignored, even in the early stages.  Destroying a prototype can not only have financial considerations but also may set back the schedule.  So failing smart is also part of the equation.

A great new engineering tool for frequent failers is the 3D printer, a godsend for mechanical designers.  We’ve spent so much money on 3D printing the last few months that we’ve made a consderable downpayment on our favorite prototype shop’s new company Ferrari. Actually, this is an exageration, because 3D printing has become cheap enough that we can design, test, fail, redesign.  Often.  We try out new ideas, we develop test plans, we break things. We break necks.  And motors and PCBAs and hinges and latches and circuits. We learn from these failures and try again.  And sometimes again. And again. And again.

On the flip side of the coin, products that fail in manufacturing, in the field, in the end customer’s home, well, that’s bad.  The whole reason we want to test the ___ out of our products is to lower the odds of that happening.  Besides testing, we use predictive tools like Failure Mode Effects Analysis (FMEA) to get ahead of the potential failure modes, and to optimize our testing budget.  This comes back to the fail early part of the equation.

To failure!

Chuck

http://www.rfidjournalevents.com/live/

Chuck

To cross the productization chasm we need a bridge. And the best way to build a bridge is to start from both sides and work toward the middle.

For design folks, this means thinking about production early on, designing manufacturability in from the get-go, thinking about test and process and quality and yes, the dreaded S word, supply chain. It means being proactive, doing tolerance analysis before assembly problems are flagged, conducting DFMEAs (Design Failure Mode Effects Analysis) early on.  It means talking to manufacturing.

For manufacturing folks, it’s actually not just saying, hey design guys you have to follow our rules.  It’s about understanding the nature of the design process understanding that first prototypes are meant to be tested, broken, and redesigned (see We design, we test, we break things). It means taking he time to understand the product functionality and also its market positioning.  Productizing a million-piece-a-month consumer product is vastly different from productizing the transmission of a pickup truck. And it means talking to design.

For both sides understanding and often times compromise are needed.

As for us, well, all too often we get called in after the bridge fails or when no one even considers the need for a bridge.  Good for business maybe but we’d far prefer to be involved early on, helping both sides bridge the chasm.

Chuck

Chuck

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I’m a novice with all this supply chain stuff, Chuck’s occasional blogs on the topic notwithstanding, so I figured that I’d start asking questions.  And who better to ask about supply chain management than Teresa Neeley, Zebulon Solutions’ very own Supply Chain Manager (bet you didn’t see that coming….). Better yet, she promised to explain all this in layman’s terms, instead of all the crazy acronyms, foreign sounding techy terms and jargon that tend to fly around the lab. So here are three questions answered on supply chain management.

Steph

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Steph: So what exactly does a supply chain manager do at Zebulon Solutions?

Teresa: We’re a productization services company, which means we don’t have our own products, rather we help prepare our clients’ products for manufacturing. Supply chain development is a very important part of this process for our clients. So our Supply Chain Manager—for example, me—manages anywhere from one to all parts of an assembly for a particular product or product line for the client. This could include sourcing the entire assembled product, and any additional logistics that go along with manufacturing products. I start by first creating a Bill of Materials—often called a BOM, sorry,  you can add that to your crazy acronym list—necessary to create a product. I then provide the client with a list of appropriate contract manufactures and their locations, each carefully selected for the product and the volumes. It’s then selecting the right supplier who can effectively meet the costs necessary to manufacture the product, all while keeping in mind the volume of the product and where its end user is.  Another significant part of my job is to help mentor clients through the new product introduction. I help the client to understand how their product fits into the suppliers manufacturing process and I supply them with the tools to plan, maintain cost and manufacture their product.

Steph: What is the most important facet of being a supply chain manager?

Teresa: The most important facet of being a supply chain manager is knowing what is best for our client. It’s finding the balance between listening to what the client wants and understanding what the client needs. Through careful communication and experience, I feel I am able to better understand what the client needs.  I always take the time to sit down and really get to know the people at the company and their product. In doing so, I can find the client a supplier/contract manufacturer that is best suited for their needs.  It’s all about relationships.

Steph: What is the most rewarding aspect of your job?

Teresa: When the clients build good working relationships with their contract manufacturers and suppliers. I know I’ve done my job well when the client and the contract manufacturer/supplier not only trust in what I do by bringing them together, but they trust in one another. I feel that building a good working relationship is what ensures a successful product. Knowing that I was a part of that process is extremely rewarding.

Teresa