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Profitless Part Proliferation

A false sense of profitability cloaks great waste

Bruce Hamilton
Mon, 07/11/2016 - 13:50
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Body

I wrote a piece a little more than five years ago about a variety reduction program (VRP), an amazing but little-known product-design optimization tool. At the time I referred to VRP as an idea whose “time had not yet come.” Last week, as I gave a short presentation on VRP, I realized that five years later its time apparently still has not come. In the interest of creating more interest around this significant technique, the following column expands on my epistle from 2011 and provides a couple of tangible examples of that significance from my own experience.

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Submitted by Rajohnson on Mon, 07/11/2016 - 13:00

screws....

I had a very similar issue VERY early in my career.   the specfic was #10-32 screws, there were 20+ different part numbers and more than a dozen different "standard" costs and suppliers.   Interestingly enough, some of the different pricing actually came from the same supplier!!  while the total costs were greatly significant, the same screw from the same supplier cost up to 250% MORE depending on the part number.

I learned that variation can take many forms, including the variation in part numbers for the same or equivalent part!!

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