Standardization makes a key contribution to the optimization of the costs of the product design phase. It consists in limiting the numbers of components and tools used by:

• doing away with unnecessary components and redundancy,
• using a single component instead of several similar components,
• developing an approach based on subassemblies,
• delayed differentiation, which reduces the number of semi-finished products by customizing products as late as possible in the production cycle.

Standardization also applies to processes: analysis of similar steps in different processes in order to create identical steps.

The expected benefits include:

• reduced surface areas required for storage in the workshop,
• a reduction in the quantity of part numbers and, possibly, the number of supplies,
• the reduction of stock levels and the associated cost of ownership,
• the simplification of planning and external and internal logistics,
• increase in the volume and recurrence of purchases,
• a simplification of processes by extending the common core to include different articles,
• greater flexibility in the response to market requirements.

Argon Consulting helps its customers in:

• the analysis of the functionality of products and the associated components,
• the analysis of the minimal criteria and constraints applying to these components,
• a reduction in the number of components by:
  • eliminating unnecessary components,
  • replacing components with similar components in order to group purchasing volumes,
  • incorporation of differentiating components later on in the process.
• in-house support for the initiative.