Extending the Life of a High-Reliability Product for Severe Environments

How Sypris Partnered with SubCom to Re-Engineer the Product Family

Approach

SubCom turned to Sypris' experienced team for guidance when the lead-time and cost challenges of a core product family were impacting the company’s ability to deliver products on time and within budget. 

Sypris engineers met with the SubCom team and conducted thorough technical reviews to define the scope of the problem and to identify the client’s goals and expectations. Using their knowledge, the collaborating teams developed a plan that defined clear goals and methods for measuring results.  

Sypris' cross-functional team of Lean and Six Sigma experts reviewed the product design for manufacturability (DFx) and identified complexities, cost, process and test issues as well as supply chain risks. The team then recommended design revisions to eliminate thru-hole parts to surface mount as well as common-use parts to reduce BOM complexity. 

Additionally, our Sypris team recommended process improvements that added new components with standardized fixtures to reduce labor, inspections and the risk of scrap. Design build validation was also completed to confirm the soundness of the design.  

Result

With the implementation of Sypris' recommendations, the cost of project materials was reduced by 30% and the delivery lead time was reduced from 6 weeks to 10 days. Through their partnership with Sypris, SubCom was also able to significantly reduce the number of parts and the level of complexity per assembly. The customer was extremely satisfied with the results and has since partnered with Sypris for assistance with other products.