Sheet Metals Design Tips: How to Slash Production Cost

Cost reduction is a crucial challenge for enhancing product competitiveness and improving customer satisfaction. Therefore, designers must have a wide range of cost-cutting ideas at their disposal.

 

In this article, we introduce innovative tips for sheet metal design useful to cut significantly the final product’s cost. By implementing these design tips, you can achieve significant savings without compromising on quality. Understanding how to maximize cost-efficiency will benefit both your projects and your company’s bottom line.

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Reducing Component Size to Reduce Raw Material Costs

Oversized components can lead to increased costs. Not only do material expenses rise, but the increase in volume and weight can also result in higher transportation expenses, among other reasons. Hence, designing with the minimum necessary size is crucial for effective cost reduction. In the initial design (left image), some unnecessary waste was observed in the sheet width. The improved design (right image) addressed this issue by optimizing the use of materials.

Before

Oversized components will increase drastically the final price for your parts. This is an example where the part can be designed smaller to reduce price

After

Reducing the components size is a way to reduce costs
The supporting part for the sensor does not experience significant loads or vibrations. Therefore, we adjusted the sheet metal width to match the required width for mounting the sensor and sheet metal bracket. According to meviy’s estimation, the initial design cost 13,40 euro whereas the cost reduced to 13,34 euro per component after the design modification. This might seem a small reduction, but it’s only one of many strategies you can take to cut even more the final cost.

Before

After

Example of pricing of a component that has be redesigned. Reducing the sheet metal's size leads to a cost cost reduction

Reducing Bending Operations to Cut Processing Costs

Minimizing bending operations can lead to cost reduction. In sheet metal processing, each time a component is clamped in the press machine, one bending operation is performed. Therefore, an increased number of bending locations or operations can lead to more work and higher costs. Let’s compare the design before and after improvement.

 

In the initial design, there were two bending operations between the sensor mounting surface and the fixed surface. However, by making the design modification as shown below, we reduced the number of bends by one. In this new design, we changed the placement of the sheet metal from fixing it on the side of the platform to fixing it on the top surface.

Before

Reducing the components size is a way to reduce costs

After

Reducing the number of bending operations is another way to reduce the final price for your components
As a result, the number of bending operations decreased, and the cost was reduced from 13,34 euro to 12,96 euro per part. Not only that, but the workability also improved since the direction of inserting screws to fix the sheet metal changed from horizontal to vertical.
Example of pricing of a component that has be redesigned to have less bending operation. With this design adjustment, it's possible to achieve a cost reduction

Reducing Component Count through Integration

Reducing the number of components is also an effective way to achieve cost reduction. In the next example, we will create only one single sheet metal that will cover the exact same function of the prior two.

Before

Reducing the number of bending operations is another way to reduce the final price for your components

After

Reducing the components' number is one the way to reduce your final costs
With this design, the number of screws needed to fasten the sheet metal decreased, and aligning the sensor’s optical axis became easier with just one component. As a result, the cost decreased from 25,92 euro for two pieces to only 15,73 euro for only one part.
Example of pricing of a component that has be redesigned. Reducing the actual number of components leads to a sensible a cost reduction

Adopting smart sheet metals design tips to cut costs

From the initial design cost of 26,8 euro (13,40 euro per part), we have now cut the price by more than 40% .

To achieve cost reduction, it is sometimes necessary to reevaluate not only the target component but also the overall configuration of the equipment and production line. Perhaps the work presence check is already performed at a previous stage, and there might be no need to recheck the work afterward. In such cases, there may be instances where rechecking at that particular location is unnecessary.

 

While eliminating the sensor was not possible in this case, reconsidering the entire operation flow or changing the flow of the production line may render the designed component or the device that changes the work orientation unnecessary.

 

When designing a component, it’s easy to get too focused on that specific part, but having a broad perspective is essential for achieving cost reduction.

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