Cost management and simulation under the backgroun

Cost management and Simulation in the context of intelligent manufacturing Abstract: with the development of cloud computing, big data, IOT and other technologies, intelligent manufacturing is rapidly promoting the integration of the real economy and the virtual world, and the business model and cost curve of manufacturing enterprises are also changing

with the development of cloud computing, big data, IOT and other technologies, intelligent manufacturing is rapidly promoting the integration of the real economy and the virtual world, and the business model and cost curve of manufacturing enterprises are also changing

under the background of intelligent manufacturing, the business model of enterprises has been continuously innovated, and the value-added ability of products has been continuously improved. The fierce market competition requires manufacturing enterprises to achieve more lean product cost management and control. On December 8, e-works interviewed Ms. Stephanie feraday, the Global CEO of apriori, and exchanged with her the trend of product cost management in the context of intelligent manufacturing, as well as Apriori's best practices in product cost management and simulation

cost management of intelligent manufacturing mode

modern manufacturing mode usually applies intelligent manufacturing technology and systems in all links of manufacturing and production, and simulates enterprise behavior through computers in a highly flexible and integrated way to analyze, judge, reason, conceive and make decisions, so as to meet the needs of more and more intelligent interconnected products

in the context of intelligent manufacturing, on the one hand, the adoption of high-tech and high-level automation equipment and processes has changed the composition of manufacturing costs and cost management mode; On the other hand, the costs related to the procurement and application of intelligent devices have increased significantly, while the indirect costs have also increased significantly

this means that the manufacturing cost should not only consider the direct costs of traditional raw materials, spare parts, packaging and transportation, as well as other costs such as product design, test and inspection, maintenance and repair, but also consider the costs of intelligent production lines, workshop transformation, equipment switching, supporting upgrading and so on

in Stephanie feraday's view, the current global manufacturing revolution is like the redefinition of the software industry by cloud computing. An obvious fact is that the development of products based on IOT functions and the concept of "product as service" is reshaping the manufacturing industry, and cost management will play a crucial role in this change and become the key to the success of enterprises

80% of the cost depends on the design stage

"the design stage determines 80% of the cost of the manufacturing industry" is an almost recognized fact in the industry

from the perspective of the complete life cycle of products, for a company with standardized management, the impact of R & D link on the cost of products is the largest. The impact of R & D link, production link and procurement link on the cost is 70-80%, 5-10% and 15-20% respectively

the fact is that the traditional cost control is mainly focused on production, procurement, supply chain and other links, and no matter how to optimize the supply chain, once the product design is completed, it can only save costs in 20% of the back end of the product life cycle. If appropriate technical means and management methods are used to transmit small changes in the front end of the product life cycle (i.e. the research and development process) to the cost of relevant products in a timely manner, it will save more costs for the operation control and business decision-making of the enterprise

in Stephanie feraday's 25 year career, she served as senior executives of many famous IT companies such as netegrity, HP, Symantec and so on. The reason why she took charge of Apriori as a female professional manager is that she saw the value of optimizing product costs in the R & D stage, which is of great significance to manufacturing enterprises to promote intelligent manufacturing strategy. She said that effective cost management in early product design iterations can save at least 7% to 15% of the cost, which is more significant and valuable than cost control in the supply chain

cost management based on 3D model

stephanie feraday reviewed the history of the company. When reviewing the history of the company, Apriori was born in Boston, the United States. It was founded in 2003 and has been committed to the management and Simulation of product manufacturing costs. As a technology-based IT company, Apriori invests 30% of its revenue into research and development every year

according to Stephanie feraday, the biggest feature of Apriori is cost management and simulation based on 3D models

from the perspective of product positioning, Apriori is an enterprise's product cost management platform. Through intelligent geometric feature analysis, it helps engineers design target costs, provides manufacturing process route economic analysis for manufacturing technicians, helps buyers discuss the price of spring testing machines on the market based on cost facts, and points out the direction of cost reduction for enterprise managers

from the perspective of product function, it can be simply understood as the first step to obtain geometric cost drive (GCD) by analyzing the 3D CAD mathematical model of parts; The second step is to simulate the proper and reasonable production process route, process and process steps for manufacturing these geometric features by specifying the virtual manufacturing environment (VPE); The third step is to synthesize the costs of these processes to obtain the most reasonable cost of manufacturing parts

the basic input condition of Apriori product cost analysis is the 3D model of the product, which can support the direct import and cost analysis of almost all mainstream 3D CAD software systems such as CATIA, NX, Creo, Solidworks, SolidEdge, etc. at the same time, it also supports the 3D model in the format of step, JT and other standard data exchange. In addition, Apriori can also be closely integrated with the existing PLM, ERP and other systems of the enterprise to facilitate the implementation of cost solutions throughout the enterprise

in terms of industry, Apriori mainly faces discrete manufacturing industries such as machining, sheet metal processing, injection molding parts, blister parts, forging, casting and assembly, among which aerospace and military industry, automobile, high-tech electronics, machinery manufacturing and other industries are good at. Apriori's product cost management and control platform runs through the whole process organization from the early stage of product design and development to production, helping manufacturers control product manufacturing costs, speed up the market, and improve product innovation and quality

apriori's real-time cost simulation engine

stephanie feraday said that by using Apriori's real-time product cost estimation in the design process, enterprises can make smarter decisions and reduce product costs before and after production. In this process, enterprises can clearly understand the market cost trend and reduce the extra cost of purchasing, so as to achieve the purpose of purchasing parts at a reasonable price

cost savings brought about by the optimization of machining parts design

for example, in the design process of a machining part, the radius of the chamfer is increased from 1/8 to 1/4, and the offset surface is changed to a plane. When these small geometric features change, even if there is a more small design change, Apriori will recalculate the price of scrap in major cities in China in real time. Stephanie feraday said that in this specific application case, these two design changes saved the enterprise $160, reducing the cost by about 24%

help Chinese enterprises achieve cost control

after more than a decade of accumulation, Apriori has been successfully applied to many large manufacturing enterprises, such as Caterpillar, John Deere, Ford, Volkswagen, Iveco, general electric, ThyssenKrupp, whirlpool, Boeing, Honeywell, HP, Cisco, etc., to help them effectively manage product manufacturing costs in the product life cycle

stephanie feraday introduced that Apriori has established a direct sales team and a service engineer team in North America and Europe; In 2015, Apriori began to enter the Asia Pacific market and provide localized services through partners. At present, Apriori provides localized products and services for the Chinese market through Ruifeng collaboration. Stephanie feraday said that Ruifeng collaboration is a well-known intelligent R & D information supplier in China. It has formed a strategic cooperation with Apriori in terms of cost optimization and set up a professional product service team to be responsible for the consultation and implementation of Apriori products in the Chinese market

based on the actual cost management analysis of customers and the consultation of standardized cost management system, the experienced Ruifeng team can complete the pre-sales and after-sales implementation of PCM, A3, and be equipped with experimental related tools, such as caliper, steel tape, Notepad, hammer and various moulds Priority software customization, PCM installation and deployment, training, follow-up support and maintenance services and other PCM one-stop services. In addition, Ruifeng team has been invited to participate in Apriori original factory training for many times, participate in the implementation of foreign projects, and obtain Apriori professional service certification license. Ruifeng team and Apriori service team maintain a close and good cooperative relationship to ensure that the technical service quality of Ruifeng collaboration is synchronized with that of the original factory

according to Stephanie feraday, Apriori is very cautious about looking for partners in the Chinese market, because Apriori is mainly for large and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises, and its partners must have the ability to serve large and medium-sized enterprises and have a deep understanding of the industry, so as to deliver services and best practices for customers

at the end of the interview, Stephanie feraday also introduced the cooperation process between Apriori and Shandong Wuzheng group. Wuzheng group is a large-scale manufacturer of agricultural vehicles, automobiles and agricultural equipment, and one of the key backbone enterprises in China's machinery industry, with annual sales of more than 14billion yuan

in the process of rapid development of Wuzheng group, it is necessary to establish a new design, development and manufacturing environment to help enterprises achieve industrial upgrading, quickly respond to market demand, and help enterprises achieve international leading technical status in agricultural vehicles and agricultural equipment

after initial cooperation, Apriori was deeply applied to the R & D and production process of Wuzheng group. In the first year of use, a single part of Wuzheng group achieved savings of more than $1million in a few months; Wuzheng group has more than 600 suppliers. Through the application of apriori, Wuzheng group has obtained 15% cost savings in price negotiation with suppliers; At the same time, the weight of agricultural equipment products was reduced by 8 kg