off shore manufacturing woes
off shore manufacturing woes
(OP)
hello - i am a m.e. that works for a company that bought a manufacturing facility in europe a number of years ago to machine & assemble our product - a person from the usa heads up this facility in the manufacturing area - for the last couple of years every design that is generated in the usa at our engineering office has come under deep criticisum from this person & i feel it is hurting our chances of becomming more cost efficient & our designs more 20th century - our vp of engineering seems to hang on every word & suggestion this guy makes even though he is not an engineer (he only runs the shop) - anyone else experiencing this kind of thing w/ off shore manufacturing - i am really tired of hearing that "we cant weld this , we cant bend this , we cant keep this round" from this guy - it seems to me when manufacturing starts to dictate design & engineering we are headed for a world of hurt - any opinions?? - sorry about the rant but i have reached my limit!!





RE: off shore manufacturing woes
Have you, or any of the other design engineers been to the plant?
Do you or any of the other design engineers have an understanding of how your product is manufactured?
When he says "We can't weld this." Ask: Why not? Is it physically impossible to get a rod or electrode into the joint? Are the material thicknesses vastly dissimilar? Is the required process beyond the capability of the available equipment or welders? Is it a process issue, or an equipment issue, or a training issue or a design issue? Here is what the design intent is. Do you have any suggestions on how to effectively produce this?
You really have only three options. Design stuff within the process capabilities of the manufacturing facilities available to you, or upgrade the available manufacturing facilities to obtain the process capabilities required for the design, or meet in the middle somewhere.
Whether you like it or not (and it sound like not), design for maneuverability is part of design.
RE: off shore manufacturing woes
Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA
RE: off shore manufacturing woes
Generally little point having the best functioning piece of kit in the world if it's so expensive to make no one buys it/you can't sell it at a profit. Likewise, not much point having something that's cheap to manufacture but doesn't work.
Sometimes you will compromise your function, or at least change its design, for the sake of manufacturability. Sometimes you have to tell manufacturing to suck it up and just do it like you designed. Difficult part sometimes is knowing which way to go.
From what you say it's difficult to know where the balance lies with you at the moment. You're making it all out to be manufacturing's issue, and maybe it is (I've worked a place that had that issue sometimes), but maybe some aspects of your design could be easier to manufacture, or at least better suit their processes/equipment.
If you are getting them built OK in the US and just having trouble in Europe then Mikes suggestion sounds good, even better get your US manufacturing to talk to Europe.
If you only have it made in Europe then Mikes suggestion is still nice but might be prohibitively expensive. As Mint says try and find out what their capabilities are and start to design to them. Ask them to detail what they can weld, what they can form, what they can machine and how accurate etc. For instance, no point speccing lots of rolled/bent ¼ plate if the maximum thickness they can do is 1/8. Either you need to change your design, outsource this part of the manufacturing or get them better tools.
Also, can you get their input earlier in the design process? Do you have design reviews and if so do manufacturing contribute? While if it's as bad as you say it may not be a good idea, you could consider having a manufacturing approval on the drawings.
One of the first drawings I ever did, the machinist and prototype shop fitter called me down to the floor to ask me a bunch of questions about it. Now they definitely had some valid points/questions/concerns. However, they'd also missed things that were on the drawing, several times I pointed out that what they were asking me was there etc. My point being, typically there's give and take on both sides, if the pendulum swings too far either way you're in trouble.
In the USSR for instance, the design engineers were apparently only involved up to the prototype stage. Once ready for initial production the design was handed over to the separate manufacturing facility and they'd basically make any changes they wanted to suit manufacturing. This sometimes resulted in significant quality/performance issues. (Not sure how true this is or when but I saw it on a documentary about either the space race or some aircraft development, I can't remember which.)
While sometimes the case, just because he doesn't have a degree doesn't automatically mean he doesn't know what he's on about. I've known shop floor folks that had more sense than chartered (UK version of professional) engineers.
KENAT,
Have you reminded yourself of FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies recently, or taken a look at posting policies: http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: off shore manufacturing woes
David
RE: off shore manufacturing woes
Cheers
Greg Locock
SIG:Please see FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.
RE: off shore manufacturing woes
thank you for a place to vent & all that have contributed
RE: off shore manufacturing woes
Do you have auditors or forensic accountants?
Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA
RE: off shore manufacturing woes
Patricia Lougheed
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"Somebody on this Internet forum said it was ok" is not a sufficient explanation when responding to a lawsuit.
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RE: off shore manufacturing woes
RE: off shore manufacturing woes
an engineer should spend alot of time in a manufacturing enviroment - i am one of those guys from the 60's who got his trade from the machine shop operating a lathe just out of high school - my problem here (my work place) is w/ all of the great fea software & cad tools we have where we can just about do anything within limits why is it that our manufacturing group is not willing to change w/ the times - why is it we are stuck being safe in the 1950's?? - it almost makes one in this profession feel dead inside - maybe i am just getting too old!! - thank you again
RE: off shore manufacturing woes
RE: off shore manufacturing woes
KENAT,
Have you reminded yourself of FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies recently, or taken a look at posting policies: http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: off shore manufacturing woes