Background
The client is one of India’s largest manufacturers of off-highway engines for applications including tractors, agriculture and gensets.
Problem: Generating New Cost Reduction Ideas that are Manufacturable and Acceptable to the Market
The client had considerable experience in designing and developing engine products. However, they recognized that an external agency can spot opportunities that may have been overlooked due to familiarity with the product. This can bring new ideas and ways of working, which may benefit the organization.
The client had previously worked with both management and engineering consultancies on VAVE programs in the past. However, whilst there have been some benefits from these exercises in target definition and program management, ideas for cost and weight reduction through engineering design, manufacturing and sourcing have been limited.
This was likely due to a combination of factors including limited understanding of the client’s products, technical limitations of suppliers, manufacturing processes and the Indian off-highway market.
The client was looking for cost reduction ideas that are both manufacturable and acceptable to the market.
Solution
Caepro conducted a five-day VAVE Workshop at customer’s engine R&D facility. The team from Caepro included experience in engine design, sourcing and manufacturing.
This was complemented with customer representatives from engineering, manufacturing, sourcing, sales, and marketing.
The joint team reviewed three customer engines which had previously been stripped at the component level. Benchmarking with competitor engines can also be performed but wasn’t required in this case.
Ideas for weight and cost reduction were then generated in a brainstorming session. These ideas were developed and then evaluated and prioritized based on cost reduction potential and difficulty of implementation
Success
The process was extremely informative and inclusive. The joint team generated many ideas that in total could lead to potential savings of INR 1Cr (c.£100k) per month based on customer’ current production volumes.
Following the workshop customer identified projects which could be started straight away and which could be taken up in the next stage. Most of the projects could be performed by their internal team and a couple of them were given to Caepro to take forward. This included a flywheel redesign which resulted in a 10% cost and weight reduction.
Client Testimonial
“The VAVE workshop delivered by Caepro was very successful in generating many ideas which will lead to significant savings.
I would highly recommend any engineering company to conduct a similar exercise with Caepro.”
CTO, India Off-Highway Engine OEM.
Can we help you?
If you think Caepro can help you with your current engineering requirements or you would like to know more about our company and services please call us on +44 1865 809445 or send us an email at info@caepro.com and we’ll get back to you straight away.