Redesign your product or equipment to cut its total cost and keep every function
Find the cost your design carries. Free assessment and roadmap.
Your part does its job, but it costs more every year. Material, machining, and assembly add up on every unit you ship. Most of that cost was set when the part was first designed, by margins and habits no one has checked since. That is the problem value engineering solves. We trace each dollar of unit cost to the function it serves. DFMA (design for manufacture and assembly) removes parts and steps. FEA (finite element analysis) proves how much material the loads need, and suppliers price the changes. You approve each change and its cost before we redesign anything.
If nothing changes, every build keeps paying for it. Purchasing can only squeeze suppliers so far. Cutting specs by guesswork risks a field failure that costs far more than the savings. Meanwhile, a competitor with a leaner design quotes lower on the next program and wins it.
PPS value engineering services trace each dollar of unit cost to the function it serves. DFMA (design for manufacture and assembly) removes parts and steps. FEA (finite element analysis) proves how much material the loads need, and suppliers price the changes. You approve each change and its cost before we redesign anything.
✓
Our unit cost goes up every year
Material and machining creep in, and no one traces them back to the design.
✓
No one knows why the margins are that big
Safety factors set years ago still decide how much material every part carries.
✓
Assembly takes too long
Extra fasteners, brackets, and steps add labor and more places for errors.
✓
Scrap and inspection keep climbing
Tolerances tighter than the function needs drive scrap and cycle time.
✓
One supplier sets our price
Single-source or obsolete parts leave you with price increases and no options.
✓
Purchasing already squeezed suppliers
The easy price cuts are gone. The cost that is left lives in the design.
Margins shrink; quality and delivery often slip
No data on which margin the part really needs
Same design, same costs, new supplier risk
Rework and warranty eat the savings
Find cost the part's function does not need
Remove material only where the loads allow it
Fewer parts and steps; cheaper at any shop
Each change is checked and priced first
The 34% less rework, 51% fewer prototypes, and 37% shorter test phase figures are from the PPS Innovation Edge white paper.
Public benchmark
$3.1B
DoD-reported savings in one year
Precedent
DoD reported $3.1B in savings and cost avoidance from value engineering in FY2015 (DoD, 2016).
What it means
Value engineering asks what each function must do and what it should cost, then redesigns what costs more than it is worth. We do that on your product or equipment.
The public record shows what the method can do. What it does for your product depends on your design and volumes, and the free assessment tells you.
Lever
Decision it lets you make
Result
Material
Overbuilt parts
Decision
FEA shows where the part carries load and where it only adds cost.
→
Result
Material only where the loads need it. FEA services →
Assembly
Too many parts and steps
Decision
DFMA shows which parts can combine and which steps can go.
→
Result
Fewer parts and faster assembly. DFMA services →
Tolerances
Specs tighter than function
Decision
Each tolerance is traced to what the part does, then opened where it can be.
→
Result
Less scrap and inspection. CAD design services →
Sourcing
One supplier sets your price
Decision
Legacy parts are redrawn to standard processes more shops can run.
→
Result
Parts you can quote widely. Reverse engineering services →
01
A lower-cost design with the same form, fit, and function: updated CAD and drawings, with the cost of each change shown.
02
FEA results and a cost model you review and approve at each gate, before anything is redesigned.
03
You own the IP by default. When an OEM or partner manufacturer is involved, the contract spells out who owns what.
04
We stay on for supplier quotes, first articles, and later changes. If we missed it in our QC, we fix it. If your supplier can't make the part within three years, or supply dries up, we fix that too.
You send
What we need to start
CAD and drawings for the parts or assembly
BOM (bill of materials) with unit costs and annual volumes
Supplier quotes and the processes they use
Requirements: loads, life, codes, and customer specs
Field data: returns, warranty, or known failures
→
You get
What you hold at the end
Redesigned parts: CAD and drawings ready for quote
A cost model showing each change, before and after
FEA results you approved, proving function holds
A supplier package so more shops can bid
A roadmap for the next round of savings, and a team that stays
We price to the value we deliver, not the hours we log. If the value isn't there for you, we'll say so in the assessment.
Bring your own manufacturer or lab, or work with our partner network. See how we partner by industry.
You approve every value engineering change and its cost at every gate, so nothing that affects function surprises you. If we missed something in our QC, we fix it. If a supplier can’t make the part within three years, we fix that for you too.
Every unit you ship pays for cost it does not need. Free roadmap.
Get Your Free RoadmapTake weight and cost out of flight and ground hardware while keeping the margins your customer reviews.
Lighter, still in margin.
Applications
Brackets
Fittings
Housings
Cut piece price on brackets, housings, and assemblies that ship by the thousand, where cents add up fast.
Cents per part, at scale.
Applications
Brackets
Housings
Assemblies
Heavy parts built from habit carry extra steel. Redesign them for real loads, wear, and easier repair.
Less steel, longer life.
Applications
Buckets
Frames
Wear Parts
Reduce weight and fabrication cost in marine structures and systems without giving up strength at sea.
Built for salt and load.
Applications
Structures
Fittings
Fabrication
Redesign parts, tooling, and fixtures so your production line can flow, with fewer parts and fewer steps.
Parts that let you flow.
Applications
Part Count
Tooling
Fixtures
Design or redesign machines and fixtures around cost, uptime, and service from the start, not after.
Design it right, once.
Applications
Machines
Fixtures
Uptime
Prototyping, HALT, R&D, reverse engineering, and more. See every problem our engineering team solves.
Find your problem here.
Solutions
Prototyping
HALT
R&D
FEA, CFD, CAD, DFMA, and testing under one roof. Engineering is a team sport, and you get the whole team.
One team, every skill.
Under One Roof
FEA
CFD
CAD
DFMA
Testing
Veteran-owned SDVOSB status gives defense and federal buyers a set-aside path to proven engineering.
Verify our SDVOSB status.
Credentials
SDVOSB
VOSB
CAGE 8ZK73
NAICS 541330
Missed something in our QC? We fix it. Supplier can't make the part within three years? We fix that too.
Support for the long run.
We Fix
Our QC Misses
Supplier Gaps
Supply Chain
We price to the value we deliver, not hours logged. You buy a design that works, not more iterations.
Pay for the result only.
Collections
Gold
Platinum
Diamond
How is value engineering different from cost cutting?
Value engineering cuts cost while keeping every function the part must perform. Cost cutting often removes cost without checking what it breaks. A cost-cutting pass squeezes suppliers, trims specs by feel, or swaps in a cheaper material. The savings can come back later as scrap, rework, or field failures. Value engineering services start from the other end. Each dollar of unit cost is traced to the function it serves: carrying a load, sealing a joint, or locating a part. Cost that serves no function is a candidate to remove. The method is formal, not new. FAR Part 48 describes it as removing cost without impairing essential functions.
Then each change is proven. FEA shows how much material the loads really need, DFMA services show which parts and steps can go, and suppliers price each option. It works like a value chain analysis for one part: every step that adds cost is checked against the value it adds. You approve every change with its data before anything is redesigned, and the cost model is yours.
How much can value engineering reduce BOM cost?
Value engineering savings depend on your design, your volumes, and how much cost the original design locked in. That is why we don't promise a percentage before we see your data. Your own result starts with the free assessment, where we review your drawings, BOM, unit costs, and annual volumes. A promised percentage with no data behind it is a sales number, not an estimate. Some savings are quick, like opening a tolerance that drives scrap. Others, like combining parts, need new drawings and tooling, and they pay back over more units. Under FAR Part 48, federal contractors share the savings their value engineering proposals produce.
We list each saving we can see, with its estimated value and effort. The roadmap proposal ranks them, so you choose which changes are worth making and in what order. Your cost model shows each change, before and after. Start with the fastest paybacks, or fund each new round from the savings before it. Either way, you see the estimate and the data before you commit.
Want a roadmap for your own product? Send your BOM today.
Can PPS work with our manufacturer or test lab?
Yes. Value engineering at PPS works with the manufacturers and labs you already trust, or with our partner network of shops. Many projects use both. What matters is that one engineering team coordinates them, so the builder and the lab always work from the latest released design and data.
When every vendor reports to you separately, you become the integrator. Design changes travel by email, parts get cut to old drawings, and test results arrive without anyone tasked to act on them. The Department of Defense's IPPD Handbook organizes programs around integrated product teams for this reason, with design, manufacturing and test under one shared plan.
PPS manages your builders and test labs inside one engineering loop. We release the design, track every build and test, read the results and make the fix ourselves. Data and NDAs are set up between all parties at the start. You decide how far we take the design, up to the start of production. The IP is yours by default, as set in your contract.
Tell us who builds and tests today. We'll plan around them.
What do I send to start a value engineering project?
To start a value engineering project, send what you have, in the format your team already uses. That usually means CAD and drawings for the parts or assembly, plus your BOM with unit costs and annual volumes. Add supplier quotes and the processes they use. List the requirements the part must meet, such as loads, life, codes, and customer specs. Include any field data on returns, warranty, or known failures. Missing data is the most common reason engineering projects stall, because a cost model built on guessed inputs gives a guessed answer. That is why we don't start the work until every data set is in.
Once it is, the first step is a free assessment of your project scope and data. We confirm what the work can and can't answer, and tell you what is still missing. Then we send a roadmap proposal with scope, targets, and approval gates. Every project is scoped on its own, so the roadmap sets the schedule, not a stock promise. NDAs are available before you share any files.
Who owns the redesigned parts and models?
You own the design, the drawings, the cost model, and the analysis models from your value engineering project at delivery. Some firms keep the models, or license them back to you, so every later change sends you back to them. That locks your product to one vendor and makes design reviews harder, because your team can't open the evidence behind the decisions. At PPS, the IP transfers with the solution. Nothing is held back to tie you to us. You receive the native CAD, the drawings, the cost model, the simulation files, and the documented results. Your engineers can check the work, rerun a load case, or hand the package to a supplier.
We sign mutual NDAs before any of your data is shared, and your files stay in our controlled project folders while we work. If your program has export-control or customer data rules, tell us at the start and we will set up the data handling to match them. For defense programs, the State Department ITAR guidance sets the rules we follow.
What happens if a redesigned part fails in test?
If a redesigned part fails in test, we find out why and fix the design. Hard engineering carries unknowns: real loads, material lots, and assembly effects never match a model perfectly. With value engineering from PPS, you approve each change and its data at every gate. A test result is then checked against predictions you have already seen, not a black box. A failure in test is data. It shows which assumption was wrong, whether a load, a material property, or a boundary condition, and that data improves the model and the design.
When testing is in scope, we plan the test to confirm the margins that matter most. We correlate the model to the results, following ASME verification and validation practice. If the miss was ours, because something slipped through our QC review, we fix it. If the test uncovers a condition nobody knew about, we scope the change with you and update the roadmap. Either way, you get a clear answer and a path to a lower-cost design that holds.
How is a value engineering project priced?
We price every value engineering engagement to the value it delivers, not the hours we log. Hourly billing rewards extra iterations, so the cheapest quote often becomes the most expensive project once tooling, rework, and field failures show up. Our incentive is to get the design right the first time. We engage by fit, not as a ladder. Gold (from $35K): you have one project and need help with it. Platinum (from $15K/mo): you have recurring work at a steady rhythm. Diamond (from $800K/yr): you have a long development program, often multi-year.
Gold is never required, and some clients start at Platinum or Diamond. These are starting points, not quotes; your roadmap sets the price. We price to the value we deliver, not the hours we log. If the value isn't there for you, we'll say so in the assessment. Our engineering consultant pricing page explains how each collection works in more detail.
Paying for cost your part does not need? Get a free roadmap.
Send your CAD, BOM, and volumes. We review your project scope in a free assessment and reply within one business day with next steps.
On-site assessments that require travel are quoted separately.
