Simulation as cost cutting tool

Virtual test is touted as the tool to avoid problems later on in the development cycle, where it’s so costly and distracting to fix the design to meet quality and reliability standards, or even plain consumer expectations.

I found that simulation is helping the customer to save more money and time on design, by avoiding unnecessary iterations after the aesthetics part was bought off on. This is a typical design scenario which I am trying to avoid: designers create a new product in 3D CAD, where all sense of scale and reality is lost in the first place, then prototype it (not cheap either and it takes time also), then find (if they’re lucky) in a medium advanced stage that the design isn’t very robust. A worse case is that this is found while ramping up for mass production, worst case is in that the problems come out in the field.

The later the problems are found the less happy everybody will be including the designer, who has to make design concessions which often degrade the looks. Usually this train cannot be stopped anymore once too much momentum has been reached.

The irony is that simulation is much easier early in the concept stage, with very simple 3D models being readied for computer based analysis. Once more details are added (which not always contribute to overall stiffness) it takes more time to simplify the model or pay the price for long computational iterations, taking away the advantage of improving the design quickly. For me Simulation is not only about a final check, its real power is in iterating to the sweet spot of design, reliability and cost.

A good virtual test requires thinking of use and abuse scenarios and a healthy injection of realism in the simulation as well. You basically hit the design pause button for a few days, especially if the product is very new to you.

Design in China? Why not!

Can you design in a distant country, with a very different background, history, language and consumer behavior? It depends. Consumer products for instance seem less sensitive to cultural influence than kitchen utilities. Communication is super important and goes beyond mastering good English; it involves imagining yourself using a product and having the same enthusiasm (or better) as the future buyer.  Typical communication can be per email (best scenario in distant communication), part pictorial and part textual and it is the textual part that tests the imagining capability of the designer.

You could argue that the world is starting to become one big supermall, and that the same products and brands are bought and used everywhere. True. The reasons to buy can be very different, selective and focused. It could be highly status oriented or just for daily use. To come back to kitchen utensils: the kitchen could be the center of the house in one country, or the smallest least visited room in another.

Design is not a standalone activity, at least not if you want to be successful. Understanding the markets, culture and marketing research are crucial for the product definition stage, leading to the eventual looks and feel of what’s new. Usability has become very important in the West, since on line user feedback has become such a viral marketing tool in itself.

Foreign front end design started tipping its toes in Chinese waters, by checking the product quality at first, then making small design changes and lately, doing more and more design in China. Peugeot and Sony just beefed up their design centers in Shanghai, where most of it is happening at the moment. In essence they are embedding design in a fast growing market….

Design disconnect with Manufacturing

Manufacturing processes matter in Design – it’s not just an afterthought.

 If a design looks cool it doesn’t mean it can be made.  Unfortunately I am coming across this more and more recently.  In 2 occasions outside firms approached me to solve an ultrasonic welding issue. In the 1^st and worst case the client gave up altogether after 1 year (!) of trying, even though we found a reasonable solution with minimum additional cost. In this case all design rules for ultrasonic welding this material got violated by the 3^rd party design firm, not for the energy director, but for the entire geometry…. In the 2^nd case the yield was far below the desired goal due to insufficient fixturing and deflection of the product itself.

 Venturetech brainstorms the product design parameters and manufacturing options with a panel of experts first, before diving deep into the design. We don’t like to waste our client’s time and money, and especially not get into a stop ship situation or months of delay as described above.

The next step is concurrent simulation/virtual test during design, a tactic employed by the larger companies but available to a much wider field these days. This Simulation step not only supports reliable designs, it can also lead to substantial cost savings for larger parts with significant plastic volume. This approach also saves time, and even though prototyping is low cost in China, time to market is still a driving factor for the development schedule. Iterating part structural strength and stability during tooling should be avoided, since improvements are very load dependant and not always intuitive.

Ultra thin wall injection molding in China

Ultra thin wall injection molding

A North American client approached us to help support a super thin injection molding project in China. The molding company here ensured that this shouldn’t be an issue; just causing some cosmetic problems at worst such as flow and weld lines.

We consulted our group of experts: engineers and molders with up to 30 years of experience in the field. Their feedback: it will be very difficult to even fill that thin wall and recommended using film inlay (IMD), then mold against it. Unfortunately this approach is not suitable for the application of the client (that’s another blog article by itself).

It’s interesting to see that local suppliers have such confidence, whereas the mobile phone industry is just starting to mold parts with 0.4-0.5mm thickness in high volume and specialized equipment, something not available to this lower volume production run.

Either way: I feel Venturetech averted a small shipwreck by not wasting months of time at the molder here, and brainstorming to the right approach for this client’s application. Nobody wins by walking on thin technical ice…

Starbucks in China – brewing just fine

Starbucks open until 1am, only filling up after lunch? What’s up with that? 3 years ago the Shenzhen Starbucks stores were mostly a home away from home for expats, now the stores seem to be the new cool for everybody. My cappuccino costs 50% more than in the US: not a deterrent it seems.  

Where there is a Starbucks there’s a (future) subway station, another rule in Shenzhen, and they seem to be expanding still. Well the store density is not even close to what it is in the US, where they reached a saturation point a few years ago.

So I thought about this a bit: why Starbucks, why now? There are plenty cool coffee stores around here, with plush couches, nice atmosphere, good music etc. I decided to ask: we know it is good quality coffee, yes expensive, but good.  I think that was pretty much it.

My attraction? Same as in the US. Nobody bugging you for more drinks, cool atmosphere, feels like your own little living room, study room, Jazz playing in the background, and yes, people watching (as they do in Europe on all these patios….).

Designers coming to China

Western Designers are starting to partner with Chinese factories and their design teams, to develop new products faster, some of them settling down in China, others visiting for one to four weeks.

Some of these factories have very large showrooms with sample products; providing good inspiration, designers have access to all production materials and realistic prototypes are made in a day or two.

The advantage is speed; the disadvantage can be substantial cost creep. Some customers would consider this a marketing cost, being there first and win. In a traditional bidding environment the price would be set in stone, some cost creep would only happen because of design and material changes.  

A very common trick used by supplier is the “Minimum Order Quantity” or “Minimum Color Quantity” numbers: MOQ or MCQ. These numbers can change with a new material, or is not communicated until a time close to production. When the customer can’t meet the MOQ/MCQ the unit price will increase, which is hard to negotiate down from thereon.

My feeling is that bidding should always be done with multiple suppliers, no matter the urgency, and that the tooling cost/upfront investment should be kept in check to avoid getting locked into a single supplier. I am surprised to see how many suppliers use the customer’s own tooling as leverage against them.

China’s architectural renaissance

China’s cool building boom didn’t stop after the Olympics: many upcoming venues ventured into more organic and odd angled building shapes, assembled as complex 3D puzzles without much element repetition. One of my friends explained the magic of the 20:80 ratio, which he thinks is a major contributor to this renaissance.

 The early Manhattan High-rises such as the Chrysler building were beautifully constructed, with many elegant details.  The labor to material cost ratio was 20:80. As this ratio flipped over the century to 80:20, the buildings became boxier in shape, unless awarded by wealthy institutions.  In China this ratio seems to be 20:80, possibly explaining the surge in building complexity.

Look at the latest opera house in Guangzhou, designed by famous Zaha Adid, known for her hard to build structures, even with today’s advanced design and planning tools. The construction was challenging but successful and on time.  Other great examples are: Guangzhou’s twisted TV tower, the 2010 Asian games buildings and the Shenzhen Universiade games venues for 2011.