Company hosts webinar, says lack of understanding about what products really cost is holding back U.S. competitiveness

The one-hour webinar will address product manufacture and cost prediction issues critical to making sound financial decisions about whether to produce goods in the U.S. or at offshore locations such as China.

Manufacturing strategists and CFOs are invited by Boothroyd Dewhurst, Inc. to a webinar titled “Using DFMA to Rethink Your China Manufacturing Strategy,” October 16, 2008, 11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. EDT.

Registration is at https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/895440868.

The one-hour webinar will address product manufacture and cost prediction issues critical to making sound financial decisions about whether to produce goods in the U.S. or at offshore locations such as China. Areas of discussion will include:

• Do manufacturers know how to forecast new product costs beyond using quotes from last-generation designs?
• Can final product costs for innovative “napkin-stage” ideas be closely predicted?
• What are the hidden costs of offshoring?
• What are the secrets to producing the lowest cost product, anywhere?
• Who is beating the advantage of low offshore labor rates while still producing in the U.S.?

“Our webinar is going to tackle offshore cost issues head-on and show the alternatives,” says Nick Dewhurst, executive vice president of Boothroyd Dewhurst. “The lure of extremely low labor rates has driven many U.S. manufacturers overseas to China. But that strategy is often misguided. We will show how labor and operational costs can be systematically engineered out of designs, resulting in elegant, profitable products that can be built in the U.S. The Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DFMA) approach works for low-volume medical systems, high-volume consumer electronic goods, and countless other products and industries.”