Bradford L Goldense

Goldense Group, Inc. [GGI] · Industry & Market Research

The purpose of the article is to document a short history of the evolution of "Design for Manufacturing and Assembly [DFM/A]." It concludes by postulating how the advent of additive manufacturing may affect the body of knowledge and current competitive landscape which is largely subtractive manufacturing. This article begins at the start of the sec...

Copyright © 2021 Goldense Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Evolution of Design for Manufacturing & Assembly graphic timeline was first published on the web on January 7, 2022 as part of an article in Machine Design entitled "A History of Design for Manufacturing and Assembly." --- WEB ARTICLE Citation: Goldense, Bradford L., "A History of Desi...

This is the final monthly column I'll be writing for Machine Design. For 72 consecutive months, I've done my best to pen something of value for MD readers. Machine Design's readership spans many demographics and engineering cultures, from those starting-out their careers to those closing-them out , from big corporations to makers in their garages....

The paper focuses on measures that characterize or quantify good design in the eyes of customers and users. While some measures also have utility for internal purposes such as product quality, reliability, and cost, this paper centers on how customers, users, markets, and the investor community regard the products. --- We discuss seven different KP...

Bodies of knowledge ebb and flow over time. When you step back and look at them, the maturation of a specific discipline or technology is counted in decades. In the April 2019 issue of Machine Design a history of product design dating to the early 15th Century was codified. Here is a snapshot of what is happening in the early 21st Century, and its...

The paper focuses on opportunities to increase the value of products, portfolios, and brands that have been robustly designed. Six different opportunities are discussed, and size of the economic opportunity is quantified for each. These opportunities all have double-digit potential to increase revenues and profits, and single digit for market cap....

In the 15th Century, as the Middle Ages were transitioning into the Renaissance, people in European population centers wanted to have the same items in their homes and workplaces. News of these useful or desirable items soon spread along trade routes to the far corners of the civilized world. --- Emerging Design Centers: Large workshops began to em...

In the 15th Century, as the Middle Ages were transitioning into the Renaissance, people in European population centers wanted to have the same items in their homes and workplaces. News of these useful or desirable items soon spread along trade routes to the far corners of the civilized world. --- Emerging Design Centers: Large workshops began to em...

The use of drawing to specify how something was to be constructed later was first developed by architects and shipwrights during the Italian Renaissance. --- By the early 16th century, competitive pressures led to the emergence in Italy and Germany of pattern books: collections of engravings illustrating decorative forms and motifs which could be a...

This paper focuses on opportunities to design-in capabilities that will enhance the appeal and increase the value of products from their point of purchase throughout the product’s life cycle. Seven different opportunities are discussed, along with the size of the economic opportunity for each. The least opportunity represents a 20% increase in reve...

Not all designs are born equal. No one knows this better than the Makers and managers of small-mid firms competing against large companies with big budgets, global channels, and purchasing clout across the supply chain. Technology, media, and governments increasingly influence product success as well. Assuming your products get a fair hearing in th...

When was product design not important? Product design has always been important. It is almost a law of nature. When was quality not important? This too is practically a law of nature. The elevation of both areas began back in the 1980s. For industrial design, service firms such as Design Continuum, IDEO, and a couple-dozen others formed into an ind...

This paper focuses on factors that will positively influence spending and spending performance. All of them are within management’s control. Does your company have its arms around these? Eight actions are described. They range from good CXO behaviors, to data sciences and digital posturing, to timing new product announcements and actively competing...

Hardly a day goes by without overhearing the word apprentice, apprenticing, or apprenticeships. In some cases, it is simply renaming long-standing training programs to be in vogue with the buzzword of the day. Much of it is something new, however, for both good and not so good reasons. Four business models are discussed: The Original Model, The Spe...

This paper focuses on key performance indicators [KPIs] that have R&D spending in their calculation. The metrics range from corporate metrics that are either reported to Wall Street or used by analysts and CFOs, to measures that help to divvy-up funds across business units of different purposes and performance levels, to measures that improve the r...

Are you Reshoring? Cost advantages are not what they used to be. --- In the 1980s, before globalization began in earnest, most companies in the U.S. had corporate goals to make more than 50% of their revenues in non-U.S. markets. Business with Canada and Europe was always significant but remained less than half of revenues for most companies. ---...

This mini-paper focuses on four subjects that are all known to produce superior R&D performance. It was presented as part of a panel on global R&D spending at the 4th Annual R&D 100 Conference in November 2018.

The management science behind R&D spending decisions had been stagnant for decades. With the advent of big data and associated analytical capabilities a decade ago, progress is now being made. There are high-level challenges. First, how does one overcome the long periods of time between initial investment and the realization of results? For fast-...

The paper covers eight conditions ranging from spending decisions in boom and bust periods, to overspending and under-spending, to the impacts of variable spending and other spending irregularities on corporate time-to-market, programs, output, productivity, investor performance, patents, and overall corporate performance. Each of these 8 Condition...

This is an exciting new age for product developers and their companies, not just for all the new technologies that can be incorporated in designs, but also for the management science surrounding the creation and launch of products containing those new technologies. Big data and analytics, having reached critical mass a decade ago and now doubling...

These are exciting times for product developers in many industries, not just for all the new technologies and capabilities being incorporating into new products and product lines these days, but also for the management science around the practices and processes used from creation through launch. ----- There is a long time lag from the initial conc...

A lot is happening in Design for Manufacturability (DFM) these days. The body of DFM knowledge originated in the early 1970s and has been growing steadily ever since. Hitachi, Westinghouse, and Stuart Pugh (Pugh Matrix) were early explorers. On the academic side, professors Geoffrey Boothroyd, Peter Dewhurst, Winston Knight, and a handful of others...

R&D output levels have been declining for four decades, a 65% decline over the period. Changes to portfolio management practices follow roughly the same path over roughly that same period. Having described the magnitude of the competitive opportunity, the paper turns the corner and discusses the eight-year stretch of spending going on right now. Th...

Globalization has now settled-in. Most companies, regardless of size, now have owned facilities and/or supplier relationships in multiple countries across the globe. Outsourcing has now settled-in. Cost-of-Goods-Sold used to be 80% in-house and it is now 80% out-of-house. These days, R&D, product development, and manufacturing for any single produc...

Globalization has now settled-in. Most companies, regardless of size, now have owned facilities and/or supplier relationships in multiple countries across the globe. Outsourcing has now settled-in. Cost-of-Goods-Sold used to be 80% in-house and it is now 80% out-of-house. These days, R&D, product development, and manufacturing for any single produc...

DFAM: Additive Manufacturing (AM) will soon require a methodology for systematically designing products to optimize how they are produced using AM. Rapid prototyping and 3D printing are about validating design parameters and basic concepts of production. The production process adds a whole level of design detail. Initial Design for Additive Manufac...

The arrival of Additive Manufacturing (AM) as a valid alternative to the original five manufacturing processes is really going to shake up the factory. Within 3 to 5 years, engineering and manufacturing leaders will look out at their production floors and wonder if they should tool-up or modify an assembly line for a new product or just buy the 3D...

Based on the data cited in this paper, it is not appropriate to attempt a statically-sound extrapolation of these data to a list of hotbed countries for mechanical and electro-mechanical innovation. However, by visual examination of the relative positions of countries and the frequency that they appear across multiple industries, one can arrive at...

There are numerous hotbeds of mechanical and electro-mechanical innovation around the globe. Approximately 27 countries were identified as hotbeds, or have the potential to become hotbeds. That list will grow as emerging countries grow in the global marketplace. (Figure 14) ••••• There are numerous hotbeds of mechanical and electro-mechanical innov...

Based on the data cited in this paper, it is not appropriate to attempt a statically-sound extrapolation of these data to a list of hotbed states for mechanical and electro-mechanical innovation. However, by visual examination of the relative positions of states and the frequency that they appear across multiple industries, one can arrive at a judg...

The number of metrics that are being used to measure product development number close to one thousand. There are metrics for projects, products, processes, technologies, functional and technical disciplines, degrees of innovation, and a host of other R&D and product development innovation subjects. These 9 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) measure...

For decades there have been five basic types of manufacturing processes. They are distinct. Great design engineers understand the nuances of these processes and tailor their designs accordingly. --- There are economic considerations that precede design engineering. Is sales forecasting high volumes? Do we need a continuous production line(s), or wi...

A graphical depiction of Additive Manufacturing impacting the historical five manufacturing processes. ------------ The arrival of Additive Manufacturing (AM) as a valid alternative to the original five manufacturing processes is really going to shake up the factory. Within 3 to 5 years, engineering and manufacturing leaders will look out at their...

For decades there have been five basic types of manufacturing processes. They are distinct. Great design engineers understand the nuances of these processes and tailor their designs accordingly. --- There are economic considerations that precede design engineering. Is sales forecasting high volumes? Do we need a continuous production line(s), or w...

Clayton Christensen introduced "Disruptive Innovation" to the business world in 1995. Companies, thought leaders, and academics have now been applying and fleshing-out that basic disruptive concept for two decades. GGI recently examined the various approaches that now exist, disruptive or breakthrough of some type. We also included radical, transf...

The Original 5 Manufacturing Processes: The first three environments are Repetitive, Discrete, and Job Shop. Taken together, these three environments are a continuum for mechanical, electro-mechanical, electronic, and software-driven hardware products. At one end, manufacturing is continuous. At the other end, it is highly intermittent. The other...

Additive Manufacturing: How does one scale volume? Traditionally, more automation was added as one moved from Job Shop toward Repetitive. Engineers would design products to be made by equipment versus by people. The more volume, the less people. For 3D printing, assuming each printer is running full speed, one adds floor space for another printer,...

For decades there have been five basic types of manufacturing processes. They are distinct. Great design engineers understand the nuances of these processes and tailor their designs accordingly. There are economic considerations that precede design engineering. Is sales forecasting high volumes? Do we need a continuous production line(s), or will...

Rapid prototyping technology, building parts by creating a series of successive layers, began in the 1980s in Japan and immediately became a subject of interest in the U.S. The first patent, which coined the term stereo lithography (SLA), was granted in 1986 to Chuck Hull in the U.S. His 3D Systems company created the first prototype equipment in 1...

Rapid prototyping technology, building parts by creating a series of successive layers, began in the 1980s in Japan and immediately became a subject of interest in the U.S. The first patent, which coined the term stereo lithography (SLA), was granted in 1986 to Chuck Hull in the U.S. His 3D Systems company created the first prototype equipment in 1...

Patents, trademarks, and copyrights are hardly new. Trademarks came first, in the 1200s in England. Patents were next, in the 1400s in Italy. Copyrights emerged in the early 1700s in England. For the United States, laws passed in the 1790s protected patents and copyrights. Trademark laws arrived in the 1870s following legislative activity throughou...

How does your company determine how much to spend each year on R&D? Likely, a group of senior executives get together and offer their thoughts on what the figure should be for the next year. After a back and forth discussion focusing on the right amount for R&D, other corporate financial considerations are then put on the table that compete for mon...

How does your company determine how much to spend each year on R&D? Likely, a group of senior executives get together and offer their thoughts on what the figure should be for the next year. After a back and forth discussion focusing on the right amount for R&D, other corporate financial considerations are then put on the table that compete for mon...

R&D spending is a hot topic right now. Not since the 1990s has such a steady and possibly increasing amount of funding been on the horizon for inventive scientists and engineers. It is a great time to be in the profession. It is a global trend. Seven or more years of consecutive increases in R&D spending appear to be lining up in the United States...

There are interesting global trends as China and Scandinavian countries are tearing up the pavement on spending, but global is too large a subject for this article. Focusing on United States R&D for the nine years after 2010 (when spending returned from a 2008 Great Recession flat line) tells a story. According to the R&D Magazine 2017 Survey for...

R&D spending is a complex subject. Considerations must be made regarding whether money goes toward basic research, applied research, advanced development, or product development, as well as how much money is spent each year. It also matters in which sectors that money is spent. Funding must also be maintained continuously, as few technologies and p...

Determining how much to spend each year on R&D and product development is an issue that has plagued management for decades. In last month’s column, a number of traditional methods used by R&D leaders to determine R&D spending levels were discussed. This month, we examine an approach that is barely five years old. The goal of R&D spending is clear...

SEE PREPRINT IN RG "IEEE ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT REVIEW Pre-Submission Final Draft: Improve R&D Spending & Productivity with the Research Quotient Model [A146]." ---------- ARTICLE ABSTRACT: Deciding the best level of spending each year for research and development (R&D) and product development has challenged management for decades. It is a complex...

RQ is an analytical methodology, proven-out using academic access to the Compustat database, that modifies the economic TFP formula's R&D imperfections into a new RQ metric, and accurately ties corporate R&D Spending to corporate stock and capital market performance over any set of years or decades. ----- Final Publication Citation: Goldense, Bradf...

How do companies figure it out what to spend on R&D? Determining how much to spend on R&D and product development each year is an issue that has plagued management for decades. It is a difficult question. One of the big challenges has been tying R&D spending to results. Projects are funded, development occurs, products are launched, and commercial...

Dozens of companies and awards programs recognize new product innovations. These five stand out. All five competitions are global with equal access. Any size company can afford to enter. Only products ready for commercial sale may compete. Achievement of any level of recognition is rewarded in the marketplace.

It is nearly impossible to wrap one’s arms around the multitude of different aspects of how humans communicate with each other, never mind the dynamics of multiple people interacting over time to achieve a common goal. The crux of the problem lies in the five human senses: sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. The sixth sense of intuition or perce...

The saying goes, "You get what you measure." It is no less meaningful now than when it was first coined. In fact, in this increasingly complex and risky global economy, this concept is even more important. Can you articulate your company’s R&D strategy? Do you follow it? Do your measures specifically facilitate and support the stated strategy, or m...