What's the value?

How does a customer know they have received value? In particularly, how is engineering value measured? As an engineering services provider, I try to help my clients understand that engineering is a value. Consider the following familiar story.

It’s Saturday. I head to my garage to start another honey-do project. This week, I’m tasked to build a handicapped ramp for our aging dachshund. The poor dog blew out her back and can’t go down stairs anymore. So, my task is to build a ramp that will allow her to go from the porch to the front lawn (her bathroom) without having to go down the steps. This will be simple. I have some wood stacked in the garage. I’ll just make it happen.

After working for about 2 hours, I built a nice looking ramp. It was a work of art; all the planks were placed perfectly, corners were sanded and rounded. Now it was time to install the ramp. I carried the ramp to the front steps. Low and behold, the ramp wasn’t long enough. The angle was too steep. The dog couldn’t climb the ramp. Also, since it was so narrow, she was afraid to use the ramp. To make a long story short, one revision led to another. Eventually, more material was purchased and ramp number one was scrapped for an improved design. Ramp number 2 was designed before it was built (the way ramp number 1 should have been done).

What happened the first time? I fell into the simplicity trap. I thought “All I needed to do was get started and everything else would come together in time”. It is human nature to simplify things and to believe that we can skip the planning step.. The 30 minutes I spent developing second design saved me time during the building phase, and I came out with a useful ramp.

Now, apply the garage handyman application to business.. I’m amazed how many companies bring the “it so simple” philosophy into their businesses. They spend a lot of money trying to avoid the cost of planning and “engineering” a product. Sadly, this often results in sub-optimal products and rework when parts don’t fit. Unfortunately, there are also times when companies pay for engineering yet disregards the plan. This too will result in rework.

Plan and simple, good engineering will yield good products. Engineering value must be considered as part of the product value. Want to learn more, let KTM Solutions show you how. www.ktmsolutions.com