Why early product development decisions reduce costs

In our engineering teams’ experience once a product reaches its design freeze, around 70% of its lifetime cost has already been determined. At this stage, opportunities to introduce meaningful changes become significantly more limited, as any modifications may require new tooling, material requalification or product recertification. These additional costs can often outweigh the benefits of making incremental improvements later in the product lifecycle. By involving manufacturing specialists earlier in the design process, businesses have greater flexibility to explore alternative materials, simplify component designs, optimise production methods and remove unnecessary complexity before costs become locked into the product.