Problem
- The battery life of this implantable device was much lower than expected.
- The reason for this was that a component replacement resulted in a taller electrical component, which would ground to the titanium can, causing a current loss, and a reduction in battery life, and subsequently the useful therapeutic life of the device. This would have required an additional surgery to replace the device with a new device with a new battery.
- The Request was: “Add features to prevent this grounding problem due to this new component.”
Action
- Of course, I was able to affect the redesign needed to eliminate the short circuit.
- But I instantly realized that I could also take some cost out of this product.
- I approached the Company VP, and asked him, “Can I have an additional week or two, max, to do some redesign — aside from the one change requested. I am sure that I can take cost out of this product.”
- I made these design changes –
- a. Changed design to isolate conductive parts.
- Redesigned primary injection molded internal bracket to isolate the electronic components.
- b. Opportunistic design changes, with low design time impact, making design improvements to,
- Eliminate 2 plastic components.
- Eliminate 3 applications of insulation, also reducing fit-up problems.
- Eliminate the handling and assembly of these parts.
- Eliminate 5 design failure modes.
- Eliminate an entire page of work instructions, because assembly was so much simpler.
Result
- Design: I easily remedied the primary complaint; with all electrical components isolated and insulated.
- Cost Reduction: I reduced the cost of the assembly by redesigning for less-expensive, easier to assemble, higher-performing components –
- $38K part cost savings from redesigned plastic part, using a more expensive resin while making quite a few design changes in the internal plastic parts.
- $21K reduction in assembly labor because, while I was redesigning the interior parts, I also designed the interior parts to go together much more easily, much more simply and much faster.
- And the resulting product was both less expensive, and of higher quality, than it had previously been.
Project Notes
When a client has a presents a problem, the solution to that problem may also be an avenue for other, significant improvements.