Before launching Venture, the company’s founders accumulated long experience developing low-cost products for large consumer markets. Thanks to this experience, we know how to select the appropriate technology for a project, source components strategically, and choose the right manufacturing strategy to deliver optimal unit cost.
In addition to driving cost as a fundamental design goal in our developments, we are often asked by our clients to cost reduce their designs: we saved one Fortune 500 company millions of dollars by enhancing and cost-reducing an extensive product line. For another client, we reduced a product’s unit cost from $50+ dollars to $18 dollars – a savings of 65%.
To control product unit costs, we consistently apply the following principles:
- Focus on unit cost from the start of the project.
- Clarify intended product volume and manufacturing strategy, including volume ramp-up strategies.
- Design the product using the best, but lowest cost, technology to meet product requirements.
- Consider functional consolidation to reduce component count.
- Select and source key components to meet product design goals.
- Design based on volume and manufacturing strategy (e.g., offshoring) to meet cost and rollout goals.
