Total Cost Reduction

So how can the manufacturing enterprise make quality early design decisions that reduce total cost when the effect of early design decisions on total cost can't be estimated? In this chapter, we seek to answer this question by using information content as a surrogate for total cost. To do this, we frrst discuss the shortcomings of current cost estimation methods. We then show that information content is equivalent to total cost. This allows us to infer that design decisions that reduce information content also reduce total cost. These results are then used to develop a total cost reduction strategy based on reduction of information content. We call this strategy "guided common sense."

6.2 COST ESTIMATION The ability to estimate cost as a function of design decisions is essential for reducing total cost by design. Unfortunately, estimating cost is an inexact science, especially in the early stages of design when design information is very

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