Why Speed is Important in Product Design
After doing this for 18+ years, I sometimes forget how fast we are. The other day I was reminded of how fast we are. I was talking to a prospect about a potential product design project. The prospect was telling me how busy they were and that they just didn’t have the time to design this particular product (a pretty common reason people use us). I was estimating in my mind that it would take less than a week to design the product including time allotted for the client to review the design and for us to make changes based on that review.
I asked him when he would like to have the product design completed. He said that it will take about a month to design in-house, so anything we could do to shorten that timeline would be great. I was shocked! A month!? I responded by saying, “That’s only because you’re busy with other products right now. I wouldn’t take you a month to design this if you didn’t have other products you needed to design. Right?”
He responded by saying that if he had to do the design it would be a few months before he got to the design and then it would take a month to design. So even if he didn’t have other projects it would take him a month. I asked him (very gently), “I’m guessing we can get this knocked out in a week. Why would it take you a month?”. He said there were several factors, but it all boiled down to he typically gets less than three hours a day to sit down and design products.
No wonder we are so fast. I will toot our horn and say that I believe we are much faster (we can complete more work in an hour) than the typical design engineer. But, the even bigger factor is we can put more hours in.
We don’t have to go to meetings with other groups involved in the product development. We don’t have to attend HR meetings. We don’t have to run to the manufacturing floor to grab parts from another project to start some testing. We don’t have to run to the store to do some market testing. Our efficiency runs at about 90%. That means that if we work an 8 hour day, 7.2 of those hours are billable. In the example above what the prospect can complete in 3 days, we can complete in 1. With our experience, we may be able to complete in 1 day what he can complete in 4.
The numbers support my belief that we are much faster than the typical design engineer. If 7 of our 8 hours are spent using Pro/E and SolidWorks, we spend approximately 1750 hours per year designing products and using the software. Compare that to a design engineer that spends 3 hours a day. He spends 750 hours a year. We get 1000 hours more practice every year.
Malcolm Gladwell says 10,000 hours to master something, to become an expert. We become “experts” in less than 6 years. A design engineer that spends 3 hours a day takes over 13 years to become an expert. How many design engineers do you know that spend 13 years as a design engineer? No wonder we are typically faster.
Are we fast? Yes. We’re very fast. It’s not just because we’re superstars or an anomaly in the industry. It’s because we get more practice.
You “may” be able to change the culture of your organization and focus the efforts of your design engineers, but it will take a long time to implement and see if they can work without the typical interruptions. Do you want an immediate boost in speed and productivity? Why not give us a call or fill out our contact form to see if we might be a fit for your company?