Companies are constantly trying to reduce costs. They have elaborate off-site gatherings with themselves and their suppliers to discuss possible changes to the products in development - can they change the materials in one part? Can they fix the manufacturing process there and take out an assembler or remove a robot? Some have end-user or “client” workshops were regular people are invited to evaluate their products and help decide what is kept and discarded in the pursuit of cost reductions.

An area that is frequently ignored are the test requirements that products are subjected to. These stress-tests are intended to validate any design to “real-world” conditions and ensure the company is protected. One example is there is a machine that is called the bite tester - it’s purpose is to bite body parts of Barbi dolls and ensure no 2-year old can chew off chunks from their doll and create a choking hazzard.

Automotive (and virtually every industry out there) has their own specific tests. Sometimes they are the same from company to company, sometimes vastly different. My experience has been that product groups within a company often use different criteria (organizationally caught in silos) or bend the rules one way or another as whims or instances or needs dictate.

Then many employees in a company almost never know the origin of a particular test. No one thinks about the appropriateness of continuing those tests. They just accept them. The most dubious of these tests create excessive costs, increase weight of the product, impare fuel efficiency, compromise package space, and generally inflict harm to the company’s financial viability.

Which validation tests make sense and which are costing you too much? Some tests are needed. A few should be embellished as they ensure safety and long term durability. The trick is to know which is which and be judicious in fixing the testing parameters.

You’ll improve the product and streamline the testing process - saving costs all around the Land.

Cheers!

The following article covers quite a few areas of the business problems facing the traditional music industry - well written and insightful. However, there is a little bit of the medicine man rain dance in the solution, or at least the way it’s projected, rather than a formal process. One quote stood out - that is important for any business:

“I’m not sure they realize that they are selling art. Right now they could be selling any product. That’s why we have to move — we’re in the art business.” (source)
Every successful business has the elements of art. Look at Apple’s resurgence. Or Mondavi once said they strived for beauty, harmony, and balance in their wines. Or as Bob Lutz in the car business likes to point out that you need to be both right- and left- brained regarding products and services.

If you are designing car parts - see how you can achieve a form of art in the function - even if that part will never be seen by the end user - it will be seen, at least by the service technician while changing the oil, and influence the quality perception and market presence of your product.  Fueling desire and increasing demand.

Art and beauty transform desire - I know from experience - it’s nice to be married to a beauty.

Cheers!

(double ear lobe tug … for my wife who sometimes reads these … hiya honey!).