CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive
23 January 2012
Implementation Investments
Toyota Industrial Equipment Manufacturing (TIEM) Selects aPriori for Product Cost Management
aPriori announced that Toyota Industrial Equipment Manufacturing (TIEM) has selected the aPriori software platform to reduce current product part costs and enable its design engineers to manage product costs more effectively in the design process. aPriori will provide TIEM’s design and cost engineers with real-time, detailed cost analysis both pre- and post production to help avoid unnecessary costs throughout the product lifecycle.
Toyota offers a full line of high-quality lift trucks and has been the number-one selling lift truck brand in North America since 2002. The majority of Toyota forklifts sold in the U.S. and Canada are manufactured at TIEM in Columbus, Indiana and are popular due to their quality, reliability and durability. aPriori’s Product Cost Management software platform provides TIEM with the ability to instantly and precisely determine the cost of a part or product from a CAD model, based on the materials to be used and the volume of parts to be manufactured. Engineers can get a real-time cost assessment at any time during the design process and immediately understand the impact of any design alternative. Using this new level of cost knowledge, the company can make more informed design decisions and significantly reduce product costs earlier in the product lifecycle.
“With access to detailed cost information, our design engineers can now better understand the cost implications of different product designs as they work,” said Dave Land, manager of design engineering for TIEM. “At the same time, our purchasing teams can leverage aPriori to identify existing product parts where we might be paying too much and source them more cost effectively. This will enable us to produce existing products and launch new products at or below target costs. We also expect to eliminate expensive rework and cost-reengineering cycles and get products to market faster.”
“aPriori empowers all parts of an organization to effectively impact product cost,” said Stephanie Feraday, aPriori’s president and chief executive officer. “Purchasing is always concerned with cost, but other personnel may not have the right tools to effectively identify the best opportunities for cost savings. On the other hand, product cost is generally not a primary concern of design engineers. They need easy to use tools to help them understand the cost implications of their designs. With aPriori, TIEM engineering and purchasing teams both have the ability to access precise cost assessments in real-time as they design and source. This enables them to identify and realize product cost savings quickly and easily.”
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