How do you reduce the cost of a component without changing the form, fit or function?

It’s not easy. But it is possible. But it requires the right approach and mindset. Because if you take on a cost-reduction request with the expectation of making sweeping changes, it often results in unmet expectations. Rather, the most consistent and effective way to push costs down is to start in the minutiae of the design and work your way up from there. While saving just a couple of percent on an inexpensive component doesn’t necessarily incite cheers of joy – when you save that on tens of thousands of units,

there might be a reason to get excited. That’s our approach when we optimise inductive components to achieve cost-reductions for our clients. So when one of our customers came to us, looking for an optimised common mode choke for frequency converter, we started at the very bottom and worked our way up. But we didn’t have to go far because we found that we could simply remove the base without changing the form, fit or function. By fixing the connections to the winding by glueing them together, we could eliminate the need for the base entirely. Even though the cost of the common mode choke was only marginally reduced, the client orders 50,000 units annually.

This redesign of the common mode choke maintained its original dimensions and function, meaning that the client didn’t have to go back to the drawing board to implement the updated design.

Because if reducing the cost of one component resulted in having to change the original design of the AC drive – which could be an expensive and time consuming process – then what would be the point? When our skilled engineers are at work, they examine the components down to the finest detail while managing to keep the holistic picture in mind. It’s this approach that enables us to so consistently reduce costs without compromising on quality, efficiency or compatibility. So if that sounds intriguing to you, feel free to contact us and we can set up a meeting where we can show you how we’re going to transform your specification to a quotation.