Useful articles for busy engineering leaders

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How to Infuse Supply Chain Optimization into Your VA/VE Strategy

VA/VE should be less a lever to pull when you need to improve profitability and more a strategic mindset shift in the approach to extracting the most value from a product's total cost of ownership (TCO). Given that emphasis, VA/VE principles are ideal tools to unlock profit while optimizing the supply chain. 
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Real-World Examples of Value Analysis and Value Engineering

Value analysis (VA) and value engineering (VE) are powerful tools to improve profitability and sustainability that maintain VA/VE cornerstones of function and quality while reducing cost. The concepts are distinct, but even seasoned engineers often use the terms “VA” and “VE” interchangeably.
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Strategies to Unlock Substantial Value In Your VA/VE Tools

Find the right tools for your next VA/VE initiative so your team can discover substantial, cost-improved design change options.
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7 Steps for an Effective VA/VE Process that Protects Product Quality

Value analysis (VA) and value engineering (VE) are two methods to optimize product value through product-based cost savings. These terms differ because value engineering considers cost savings at the initial design phase, and value analysis considers existing products. Here are seven steps to perform a powerful VA/VE project.
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Why Engineering-Led Cost Reduction is Essential to Hitting Your Targets

Read on for insights on why you may need to pivot your cost reduction approach, and what you can do to start making it happen quickly.
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What's the Difference Between a PLM System and a Design Engagement System (DES)?

So what is a Design Engagement System (DES)? And how is it different from a PLM system? Read on to find out.
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Design Review Best Practices: 3 Ways to Keep Your Reviews from Going Off the Rails

No matter what your design review process looks like today, there are three things you can do right away to make your reviews more collaborative and more effective.
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3 Tips for Making Strategic Decisions About Your Supply Chain

‍Greg Smyth, a former Group Manager at Tesla turned Career Pivot Coach at Career Pivot Accelerator, has significant experience managing supply chains for large-scale projects in the automotive and energy industries. On episode 1 of Peer Check, he sat down with host and CoLab CEO Adam Keating to talk about lessons learned along the way.
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2021 CoLab Podcast Roundup

Looking for a new podcast to listen to? In 2021 CoLab CEO Adam Keating had some great conversations with people from across the engineering, manufacturing, and tech world. So we’ve gathered all the episodes into this roundup post for you.
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How to Speed Up Engineering Design Cycles with Efficient Peer Review

Going from initial brainstorms to finished design isn’t a straight line for engineering projects. The design cycle is inherently iterative, and more complexity in the design only leads to more complexity in the process. The more complex the design process, the more chances there are for the project timeline to get longer and longer. So when you’re responsible for hitting the mark on deadlines, schedules, and budgets—you want to take advantage of every single efficiency that will keep your design cycles moving along as fast as possible.

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