Case Studies

At AM&T, we take your business personally. We invest in every part of each project from the quoting process to maximizing our engineering and machining capabilities and expertise. Our practice is to have early and active participation in manufacturing, purchasing, and vendor selection. Concurrent engineering, coupled with DFM ensures project success in every job. Below are several partner success stories that demonstrate real-world results and financial upside of working with us.

*For confidentiality, we removed customer names.

PROJECT: Encryption Device

Specification:

 Customer solicited RFQs for a chassis and cover machined from solid aluminum.

 Original quote for solid aluminum design: $310/unit cost.

AM&T Engineering Study:

 AM&T proactively reviewed numerous alternate manufacturing methods and alternate materials. A full engineering review was completed with cost reduction analysis including thermal and mechanical requirements.

 AM&T recommended a die cast chassis and cover.

Results:

 To date, AM&T’s design effort saved Defense Contractor $2.5m.

 Unit cost reduction to $209.00 (33% reduction).

 Raw material cost reduction of 50%.

 Die cast eliminates 30% of machining time.

 Die cast yields higher throughput, 3 times higher.

Note: Customer was not burdened by expense of redesign nor tooling expense. In partnership effort AM&T
engineered design, cast tooling, etc. and funded the tooling.

PROJECT: Power Supply Chassis

Specification:

 Customer solicited RFQs for machined investment chassis.

 Lead time for raw material (investment casting) was 20 weeks, and 30 weeks for deliverable.The tooling for the investment cast chassis design was over $50k.

AM&T Engineering Study:

 AM&T redesigned the chassis into an extruded dip-brazed chassis.

 Newly designed complete dipbrazed chassis unit cost is LESS than RAW material of cast design chassis.

 Lead time was reduced to 12 weeks for deliverable.

Results:

 Unit cost reduction of 30%.

 Lead time for deliverable chassis was shortened by 18 weeks (40%).

 Eliminated the need for cast design tooling charge (over $50k).

Note: All engineering was funded by AM&T.

PROJECT: Plug ‘n Play Test Racks

Specification:

 Defense Contractor explained the need to reduce the cycle time of testing 100,000 chassis.

 The chassis testing requires 5 plug-in connections (2 fiber optic cables, 2 copper, and 1 multi pin power connector).

AM&T Engineering Study:

 AM&T offered to design a turnkey solution with no expense to the customer that would engage all five connectors at once.

 AM&T’s design simplified 5 plug in connections into just 1.

Results:

 Reduced test time by 85%.

 Reduced equipment failures by consistent placement of connections.

 Labor cost reduction –reduced amount of test technicians.

 Handling of product is minimized supporting LEAN manufacturing practices.

 Added capacity and faster throughput.

Note: AM&T funded and designed this turn-key solution in less than 8 weeks.

PROJECT: Chassis Redesign

Specification:

 Investment cast chassis with 5 years of proven success needed to be upgraded to improve product performance – Additional card slots required.

AM&T Engineering Study:

 The cost to change existing cast tooling was cost prohibitive.

 Card slots required flatness and parallelism of .005.

 AM&T suggested and redesigned the chassis rotating the card slot 90 making an ideal extrusion.

Results:

 Tooling for extrusion was 75% less than the proposed cast tooling change.

 Extruded chassis reduced machining time by 30%.

 Delivery was reduced from 20 weeks to 8 weeks.

 Total project savings of $500k.

CASE STUDIES