Saving Money on Your Metal Stamped Parts – The Mental

In part one, of this two-part blog series, we began to explore the different ways that manufacturers can cut costs on their metal stamping projects.

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The last post focused on the physical changes that can be made to projects which, when implemented properly, can have a positive effect on your profit margins.

There are additional ways that money can be saved on your stamping projects, beyond changing physical things like the materials used for the part and the tooling used to create it.

In this post, we’ll explore the “mental” and engineering aspects that can lend themselves to a cheaper (and often times more effective) metal stamped part. 

Project Management

Whether you are an engineer or a procurement manager, “project management” is likely not the first item on your priority list when choosing a service provider.  Costs, experience, and expected (promised) timelines are usually the determining factors in your final decision. In reality though, it’s the company’s project management structure and the project managers themselves that directly affect those factors and the ultimate success of your project.

If your service provider cannot immediately lay out who your points of contacts are, and who will be running each step of your project’s timeline, you should reconsider your partnership with this provider.  It needs to be guaranteed that you will have a clear and open means of communication throughout the project, so that if and when changes need to be made (design, materials, delivery, etc.) they can be handled quickly, efficiently, and most importantly, cheaply. Without that line of communication, you run the risk of having to manage the project from afar – costing you both time and money in the long run.

Project management can make or break your metal stamping project. Excellent project management will ensure that every aspect of your project runs smoothly and efficiently, and in a world where time is quite literally money, one cannot afford to run into missed deadlines or incorrectly run parts due to poor project management.

Design Review

When bringing a project to a metal stamper, it’s important to know that the staff is properly equipped (and prepared) to do a design review of your part before accepting the job and bringing it to production.

Design reviews are typically done by the management team and head engineers, and are used to ensure:

  • That the part you require can actually be completed by the machinery on-hand.
  • That your part design is as efficient as possible.
  • That all Tolerances, Dimensions and Radi are suitable for a Metal Stamped Production.

The design reviews provide you with the opportunity to get feedback from individuals that are seeing the project for the first time. The fresh perspective can often lead to suggestions or changes to a part design that can lead to cost savings during part production and an overall better part.

Learn More

For even more ideas on how to save money on your metal stamping projects, download our full resource below:

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