Speed to market is the total time taken to get a product ready for resale. Evaluation of project timing is typically measured by the on time ‘Start of Production (SOP)’ date and launch milestone dates where product visuals, prototypes, certified products and warehouse stock is required. Not hitting these dates can have costly effects on sales and in particular on seasonal products: if the launch date is missed by one week it can in some cases damage sales by 20-50% or even delay launch for a year.
When selecting partners and manufacturing routes it is crucial that all parties buy into the timing and have a track record of delivering. Kavia Moulded Products offer UK manufactured tooling; our program time is proven to be shorter than taking an offshore route. We save significant time with our in-house tool design and standardised Meusburger mould tool assemblies and plates; this gives greater automation and concurrent engineering of the tooling process, allowing us to run lights-out machining across many machines with fast start-up capabilities, competitive tooling prices and short programs on simple tools: bolster sets, tool design and cutting steel can start in the first week from order. For a program to run on time requires good communication, experience and a ‘right first time’ approach. The Kavia team has extensive experience in engineering, product design and project management. A
ll too often with offshore projects you will discover that the engineering experience is unsatisfactory and that communication has not been understood resulting in an extended tool design period and repeated sampling of the parts, losing more time.
An example of Kavia’s right first time approach can be taken from a project we designed, tooled and manufactured ourselves. The Kavia BLMB Kit for rowing and sculling, was tooled within four weeks, including tool design. It was first sampled on a Tuesday and produced sale ready samples the same day; the first customers had parts available for purchase within four days. See the Case Study page http://kavia.wpengine.com/case-studies/
