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Cost as an afterthought
Design optimises for performance; cost is checked too late.
Cost targets engineered into the design before commitments lock in — because most cost is decided long before it’s spent.
Up to 80% of a product’s cost is determined in design. We bring cost targets and should-cost data into the design process itself, so engineers trade off cost and performance with eyes open — before the cost is locked in.
By launch, the costly decisions were made in design months earlier.
Design optimises for performance; cost is checked too late.
Engineers design without a clear cost budget per function.
Cost-out after design means costly rework or none at all.
Decide cost while it’s still cheap to change.
A cost budget per function, set before design starts.
Should-cost estimates as design choices are made.
Quantified trade-offs to guide design decisions.
Cost designed in, not bolted on.
Function-level cost budgets for the design team.
Should-cost estimates wired into design choices.
Cost vs performance, quantified at decision points.
Bring a real decision or dataset — we’ll show you how KEPLER would approach it, with no obligation.
Book a 60-minute sessionWe start with a short diagnostic — the decision to improve, the data behind it, and a first slice that proves value fast. See how we engage →
From a quick diagnostic to a fully managed service — start small and scale as value is proven. How we engage →
The industries this work serves.
R&D, safety and commercial analytics.
Operational and patient-flow analytics.
Project controls, cost and schedule analytics.
Demand, pricing and customer analytics.
Quality, throughput and maintenance analytics.
Cost decisions, made early.
Cost budgets are set per function up front.
Design choices get live should-cost feedback.
Cost and performance are weighed together.
Designs are chosen against the cost target.
Actual cost is tracked back to the target.
Products hit their cost target by design, not by luck.
The category, capabilities and expertise this connects to.
Common problems in this area, how KEPLER solves them, and the likely outcome.
15–25% cost locked at design
View details →By the time a cost target reaches engineering, most of the cost is already designed in. The team is asked to hit a number the architecture won't allow.
Cost designed in from the start rather than chased afterwards, with each subsystem carrying a target it can actually meet.
Live cost per option
View details →Designers pick materials, tolerances and features without a cost signal, so cost surprises only surface at sourcing, when changing anything is expensive.
Design decisions made with cost visible, so the cheaper path is chosen while it's still free to choose.
Fewer post-launch redesigns
View details →Margin gets fixed after launch through a scramble of change requests, which is the most expensive time to touch a design and disrupts supply.
Margin met at launch instead of retrofitted, cutting the expensive post-launch redesign cycle.
No use cases match this filter yet — but the problem is almost certainly one we can help with.
Ask us about your problem →Tell us about an upcoming design and we’ll build cost into it from the start.
Talk to our VAVE team
