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Helical's "Design for efficiency" approach gives customers a product performance edge

Issue Number 9

Helical's "Design for efficiency" approach gives customers a product performance edge

Worldwide customers expect high quality products at competitive prices. The manufacturer who fulfills these expectations needs talented personnel in all operating disciplines. The process begins with a top-notch design and culminates with accurate, consistent production capability, and timely delivery. All of this must be accomplished within expected price guidelines.

Throughout this process, quality is the key ingredient. We must have products that are consistently manufactured to meet design targets in order to provide customers with products of high value vs cost. What must occur to have high quality, high performance, cost effective products? Part of the answer to this question can be found in a "Design for efficiency" philosophy.

Helical's "Design for efficiency" approach emphasizes creativity. The idea is to design the product to be more reliable and utilitarian yet simple to manufacture. The net effect upon the final product is improved quality and performance, with an overall cost reduction!

In concept, "Design for efficiency" appears easy to support. The trick is in implementation. The reality of manufacturing today is that OEM companies no longer make everything that goes into their assembled product. Component manufacturers, such as Helical Products Company, Inc., are playing a larger and ever increasing role in the making of most products. That said, the issue of implementing "Design for efficiency" also becomes a function of component manufacturers ingenuity in concert with OEM direction. In this environment, the ability of the component manufacturer to partner with the OEM and perform as a specialist in the integration of the given component(s) of a system is paramount.

The component manufacturer must have the ability and the willingness to take parameters of design from the OEM and create a component that most efficiently suits the needs of the overall assembly. Component manufacturers must have in-house engineering/design capability and rapid prototyping capability to provide not only innovative designs, but also meet competitive market demands such as space and weight savings requirements. The phrase - "Lead, follow, or get out of the way" takes on a new meaning that is not lost on today's procurement specialists.

"Design for efficiency" is not a new idea and it is certainly not a new way of doing things at Helical Products Company, Inc. Helical has been designing and producing products specifically suited to customer requirements for over 38 years. By allowing the parameters of the application to dictate the features of a Helical design, the best and most efficient solution is attainable.

It is highly unlikely that a part selected from a parts catalog is going to be the optimal match for a given assembly. Catalog parts tend to be generic in design, enabling them to meet a broad range of applications generally, but not always precisely.

When designing for efficiency, however, the goal is to make sure there are no design compromises unless there is an overriding economic benefit.

At Helical it is common for components designed specifically for a given system to be less expensive than a lesser-suited part from a catalog. There are several reasons why the custom designed part can be less expensive, i.e., designing in desired features or designing out unwanted characteristics.

Multiple features can be incorporated into a single part, eliminating costs associated with purchasing and assembling two or more parts rather than just one. Net result: increased system performance and production efficiencies, and lower overall costs.

Conversely, only component features needed to perform the desired task are designed into a Helical "focused function part." By designing and manufacturing just those part features that are necessary to benefit the system, a lower costing part that performs better than a catalog product is the typical result.

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