A 5-step model to reduce your development costs.
1) Make the “cost of delay” visible Problem: Work products are “sitting around” and costing money without delivering any value. Downtime and misprioritization can have enormous negative economic impacts in product development. How-to: For the top 10 task packages, estimate: value per week of delay (revenue, margin, risk, contractual penalties, market window). Result: […]
Are development costs skyrocketing?
High development costs pose challenges for European companies When even industry giants like Bosch (aggressive cost-cutting programs) and VW (systematic cost-cutting) are publicly responding to cost pressures, one thing is clear: continuing with business as usual in product development will be expensive. Many engineering managers report rising costs and see a significant need for cost […]
How Systems Engineering and Agile Development Effectively Reduce Product Costs
Whether a product will be commercially successful is often decided long before production begins. In many companies, avoidable costs arise as early as the development phase—for example, due to unclear interfaces, late adjustments, or a lack of prioritization. Systems engineering and agile development address precisely these issues and help reduce product costs effectively and sustainably. […]
Product development consumes too many resources—and no one knows exactly where they’re going
Does this sound familiar? It’s not complexity that drains resources, but a system that rewards parallel work, rework, and waiting times. A possible approach: 1) Transparency instead of gut feeling We make visible where capacity is actually going: parallel projects, meeting overload, rework, waiting times, unresolved decisions. 2) Limit WIP – increase throughput Start fewer […]
Shorter time-to-market, reduced losses, increased revenue
One of our clients, a Tier 1 supplier in the aerospace industry, was informed by one of its OEM customers that its development times were significantly longer than those of its competitors. The OEM customer made a significant reduction in time-to-market a condition for further orders. We were tasked with making this reduction possible. In […]