So, let's talk about reducing product cost while we improve product quality at the same time!

My favorite subject, Günther!

And, as you know, along with Risk Modulated Project Management℠ (RMPM℠), it's one of the two original cornerstones of our firm: Continuous Improvement of Execution, Product Margins, and Bottom Line Profitability.

Sooner.

You developed the Synaptic Enterprise-Wide Cost Reduction℠ (SECR℠) with concepts from a lot of places -- Value Analysis, Lean and Kaizen, Six Sigma, TQM, even Agile which is usually exclusively the preserve of Software development.

Well, yeah, I had a bunch of ideas that formed the conceptual framework, but it was your vast Product Engineering and "dirty fingernails" factory floor experience that translated that into a rigorous, straightforward, repeatable process -- particularly one that can be readily learned and implemented by any business.

And, somehow, you keep making a great process better!

Thanks for that, but the way you've cross-pollinated SECR℠ with Risk Modulated Project Management℠ is really the driving force that keeps the process moving forward to deliver results in a predictable timeframe and budget.

It's that sort of cross-discipline System Thinking that you and I have worked so hard to make the heart of Synaptic's approach to everything we do, and to help clients drive that "no silos" philosophy into their corporate cultures.

Out of the dozens of SECR℠ projects we've done with Synaptic clients over the last decade, you seem to particularly like to talk about the project with the manufacturer of residential / commercial water meters.

There are so many Product Cost Reduction projects you and I have have done since our first one in Germany many years ago and the many we've done since here in the U.S. and in -- geez, what's it up to? Seven other contries? Eight? -- but that's certainly the one that has everything from every angle, and is probably the best proof of SECR℠'s success in the really tough challenges.

You remember the client had terrible product margins and an Annualized Failure Rate (AFR) in excess of 8% on the product -- and that was their biggest selling product!

I don't want to sound like we're boasting, but that really was a "save the company" effort.

The client certainly says it was, which is the highest praise we could possibly aspire to as a consulting firm.

You and your team reduced:

• Annualized Failure Rate (AFR) to < 1%
• Product Bill of Material (BOM) Cost by >20%
• Manufacturing Labor Costs by >10%
• Warranty Expense by >87%
• Packaging Cost by >40%

That's remarkable by any measure!

Well, you helped enormously too!

I do my best, but we had stellar people working on that. And so did the client; they just needed a much better Cost Reduction methodology, and Synaptic was able to deliver one.

What really did make me especially proud of my team's accomplishment with the client was that it was a three discipline product -- electronic, mechanical, and real-time embedded computing. That's a lot of combinatorial complexity to master and manage!

Also, it was our first (of many since) encounter with packaging. They did awfully well at that too despite it being a first outing.

A techie Tour de Force!

I was deeply impressed with everything the team did, but as an old CompSci and a guy who teaches it, I was particularly impressed with the way your embedded software team applied some devilishly clever coding tricks to drive out quite a few chips that were previously handling the same functionality.

And, along those component reduction lines, I was really impressed with the innovative use of a Programmable System on a Chip (PSOC) device. That yielded a four-to-one package count cut and reduced one subsystem BOM cost by more than 40%.

Yeah! And the way the EEs and coders worked so seamlessly hand-in-glove to make that happen, with such close support from the Mech Es on integration, was a really beautiful cross-discipline thing to see.

Well, building diverse, experienced cross-functional teams as you have makes that possible.

Thanks, Günther my old friend, but I just find some of 'em and hire 'em. They join Synaptic to work with you.

Another thing about that engagement that I know has made you very proud is that the client also subsequently adopted Risk Modulated Project Management℠ (RMPM℠) as a result of the cost reduction engagement, and has since reported a major step change in their corporate culture around execution and delivery.

I'm so happy they participated in our recent RMPM℠ effectiveness survey, or we wouldn't know that, and most importantly that they've regularly exceeded, handsomely, RMPM℠'s norms of

• Time-to-Market reduction on the order of 15%
• Estimation accuracy improvement of 20% to 30%
• Field Failure Rate reduction on average by more than 20%

is really rewarding. I think we're as happy about it at Synaptic as they are!

So how do you suggest existing or potential clients get started with Synaptic Enterprise-Wide Cost Reduction℠ (SECR℠)?

Well, as you know, our Training Practice Leader Mary Ann Havran runs a superior training shop here at Synaptic, so she's definitely the place to start under all scenarios. Our two-day or three-day SECR℠ seminar gives many manufacturing companies all they need to successfully execute do-it-yourself product and process cost reduction projects.

In more complex undertakings like the one we're talking about here, the SECR℠ seminar serves as the perfect jumping off point for clients' technologists and managers to work closely with Synaptic's consultants as a tightly integrated cross-business team.

Of course, where there are tight time or capacity constraints, Synaptic's Business Process Outsourcing Practice can offload the entire cost reduction project from the client, do it here in-house exclusively with our resources, and give it back to the client with a bow on it -- ready for shipping.

What sort of Cost Reduction projects are you looking forward to in the future?

As you know, because you were a very big part of landing the client, in Q3 we're kicking-off an extensive Lean / Kaizen and factory automation project with a major global manufacturer of industrial mobile and wear-able computing devices to help them re-shore 100% of their manufacturing here in America!

Doing things that are good for the client, good for American manufacturing, and good for Synaptic really is the ultimate dream engagement.

Let's do another one of these talks around the midpoint of that engagement's lifecycle? It'd be interesting to share with clients how these things evolve...

Can't wait!