The biggest mistakes executives make in design-to-value and product cost management

 Design-to-Value, Product Cost Culture, Product Cost in Industry, Product Cost Management  No Responses »
Aug 272020
 

Eric Hiller is moonlighting on us again! This time he’s back on one of his favorite subjects, or at least two of them:

  1. Product cost management
  2. Design-to-value.

Although there are 1001 ways to fail at the tactical level of the project in either of these methodologies, it turns out that a lot of times these efforts fail because of executive failures in the project. Eric covers the 10 most common ways that you can sink a DtV or PCM project… and more importantly, how to avoid them!

Check out the article here: 

Eric A. Hiller Reviews Top Mistakes Made by Executive Champions in Product Cost Management and DtV

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Eric Hiller published the first comprehensive product review of Galorath’s SEER Suite

 Product Cost in Industry, Product Cost Management, Software Tools (for PCM, ERP, PLM, etc.), Spend Analytics, Total Cost of Aquisition, Total Cost of Ownership  No Responses »
Aug 072020
 

Good morning again, product and service cost management aficionados,

You’ve been waiting for it for awhile I’m sure ! Who doesn’t wait with bated breath for the next installment of knowledge in the product cost management world?  Our founder, Eric Hiller, has been very busy with a lot of things lately, but he just completed the herculean task of doing a deep dive review on the SEER by Galorath (published at Spend Matters, where he been filling out a whole series on PCM tools, started with two articles in December 2019 (here and here)

Those of you in the product cost management world, especially if you are in the aerospace and defense industries, know a lot about the SEER suite. It’s been around for over 30 years now, growth in products, depth, and breadth. Much like Eric’s review on aPriori, which was so deep we had to explode it into two parts, the Gallery app suite is so broad that’s been matters needed to split the article into two. Apparently, it’s also so valuable it’s behind their firewall.

Here they are!:

 

 

 

So, you may want to check it out. And if you can’t get there and still need some advice, give us a call and maybe we can help you.

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5 Questions for Better Cost Management Discussions (Industry Week Series Part 1)

 Education, PCM Technique / Cost Models, Product Cost in Industry, Project Cost Management, Uncategorized  No Responses »
Jul 022020
 

Hello Cost Management aficionados!

We have an exciting new series that our managing partner, Eric Hiller, is writing for Industry Week, who has eagerly accepted all the content.   The series is all about how an executive (and other people who are not cost experts) can understand what the cost management team is communicating.  The first in the series was just published yesterday.   Here is a short snippet as a teaser:

 

A big part of the communication problem is that there is not just one type of cost model. Cost management is a broad field with a variety of methodologies to address the almost infinite world of situations for which one wants to know the cost of manufacture or service delivery. Even if an executive has some understanding of one particular cost-modeling technique, it can often be confusing when the analytics team uses different technique.

This can lead to uncomfortable meeting, where executives and colleagues outside of the cost management team are confused how to understand the results and/or have low confidence in the results. Conversely, the cost management team may feel frustrated that executives are not listening to them or do not trust their conclusions.

What is the solution? The short answer is that the product cost management team needs to better educate their audiences, not only on their results, but how they got to those results. In addition, it is incumbent upon their colleagues to be willing to learn, and invest the time to become conversant in the terminology of cost management just like they would in other function areas, e.g. product development, purchasing, finance, etc.

Please click this link to read the article:  5 Questions for Better Cost Management Discussions

We look forward to your engagement, comments , and sharing.

Thanks!

Hiller Associates

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aPriori — PCM / Spend Analytics Solution Profile

 PCM Technique / Cost Models, Project Cost Management, Software Tools (for PCM, ERP, PLM, etc.), Spend Analytics  No Responses »
Jun 092020
 

Hello again cost management aficionados!

Spend Matters just published Eric Hillers’s next deep dive on cost management tools — this time on the article reviewing aPriori.  They decided to break it into 2 articles.  The first one went up on June 8
It is behind their paywall, so you will only see a teaser of a few paragraphs, unless you have a subscription.
You all may remember that I did a two-part series on the history and landscape of PCM and Spend Analytics solutions with our good friends over at SpendMatters.com in December. You can find those jumping off point analysis here and here.

Please check it out over at Spend Matters. One caveat: I have been the victim of my own success in that Spend Matters thinks the article such good content that you will see a teaser article and then need to pass through their paywall to see the full analysis.

Here’s a teaser of some of the insight that you’ll get:

 

 

 

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WEBINAR Thursday, May 28. Sign-up for free!

 Product Cost Management, Supply chain, Total Cost of Aquisition  No Responses »
May 202020
 

 

 

Recently, our managing partner, Eric Hiller, published an article at aPriori’s website called: 

6 STEPS TO OVERCOMING THE SUPPLY CHAIN CRISIS

The response was so good, that aPriori is having Eric teach as part of a webinar on the subject.  

Webinar Description:  The COVID-19 pandemic has created workforce disruptions that have paralyzed manufacturers from the top to the bottom of global supply chains. Join Eric Hiller, who will share how to keep your supply chains up and running now and in the future. This webinar will be most relevant for sourcing professionals and suppliers.  If you are unable to attend the webinar, register, and we will send you a link to the recording following the event.

REGISTER FOR:  Using Digital Factories to Model Supply Chain Changes

Thursday, May 28, 2020

Session 1: 9:00 AM EST | 3:00 PM CET

Session 2: 2:00 PM EST | 8:00 PM CET

 

 

 

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Corona Supply Chain Blues — what to do about cost, when delivery is a problem

 Design-to-Value, Supply chain, Total Cost of Aquisition, Total Cost of Ownership, Uncategorized  No Responses »
May 062020
 

The old world…

So, you had a supply chain, and you thought it was pretty “optimized.”

Yeah, you could improve it here and there, but you had wrung out 95%+ of the addressable waste.

To really make progress, you would need to make MAJOR changes (new suppliers, locations, etc.), but there just is always other stuff to do.

The new world…

Then Corona happens!!!!

Your tidy and luxurious platform is now burning.

Now you have no choice but to DO SOMETHING different.

Cost was really important and you thought delivery and quality were assured.

Now delivery is a huge problem (maybe quality too.)

The future world…

What do you do short term?  What do you set up in the future to stop this from happening again?

Find out in Eric Hiller’s new article over at the aPriori blog (which Eric originally started in 2007, when it was “CostCents“)  It has been a long time since Eric worked at aPriori or wrote for the blog, but he has some advice now.

6 STEPS TO OVERCOMING THE SUPPLY CHAIN CRISIS

 

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Three Sheets to the Wind! — How the supply chain for toilet paper works and why people need to stop worrying during Corona Virus times

 Supply chain  No Responses »
Apr 092020
 

Have you spent time in long lines at Costco or at another store only to be disappointed when you get inside and not find one of one of life’s most fundamental and critical products… dot you know what we’re talking about: toilet paper!

Admittedly this is not our usual subject here at Hiller Associates, but as this has become apparently a huge thing. We wanted to examine whether there is a rational reason for people’s behaviors or not.

In fact, Eric Hiller just published an article on this at MarketWatch!

Click here to understand the fascinating supply chain of toilet paper, and why people need to stop freaking out about this and causing a problem where there never was one to begin with.

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VIDEO — Design-to-Value: An introduction and the impact it can have in your company

 Design-to-Value, Operational improvement, PCM Technique / Cost Models, Uncategorized  No Responses »
Apr 082020
 

So… the bad news is that you (and/or your colleagues) missed Eric Hiller’s webinar class on Design-to-Value, sponsored by GLG.  

But, the good news is, it was video captured and is available on-demand and for FREE, any time you want to watch it!  (Just fill out the registration form at the bottom and the video will start.)

And, let’s be honest, you’ve probably exhausted all the “A” content on your streaming services.   Why not spend 1-hour learning about the impact that DtV has on companies from one of the world’s top practitioners.   And, Eric will touch on should-cost / how to create cost models to support the DtV effort, to.

(Plus, this actually *IS* real work and research to help your company.)

Agenda for the presentation

  • 2 min – Who’s teaching today?
  • 5 min – What is Design-to-Value and what impact can it have?
  • 30 min – An Introduction to the DtV process
    • Scoping the project and choosing products / services
    • Assembling the team
    • Sourcing candidates and competitors
    • Fact pacts & tear downs
    • Ideation workshops
    • Prioritization & ROI biz cases
    • Clustering & Chartering
  • 5 min – A quick look at should-cost (bottom-up cost models)
  • 5 min – How to get started with a DtV project
  • 15 min – Questions, answers, and discussions

CLICK HERE to learn about Design-to-Value!

 

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Eric Hiller of Hiller Associates to give 1-hour Design-to-Value seminar Tuesday 3/24!

 Design-to-Value, Product Cost in Industry, Project Cost Management  No Responses »
Mar 202020
 
Want to learn about how Design-to-Value (DtV) can deliver millions in savings and growth to your company?   
Running out of Netflix B-rated shows, as you self-quarantine from Corona?    
Well, you’re in luck!    
Eric Hiller, Managing Partner, of Hiller Associates and one of the top practitioners of DtV in the world is giving a 1-hour seminar and Q&A through GLG Research on Design-to_Value.  (we’ll also talk a bit about should-cost, as well).  
Please go here to sign-up and pass this link and info onto all of your friends that care about Product Cost Management, as well!
CLICK HERE to register for the free webinar and Q&A
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What’s the Price (WTP) — PCM / Spend Analytics Solution Profile

 Product Cost Management, Software Tools (for PCM, ERP, PLM, etc.), Spend Analytics  No Responses »
Mar 092020
 

Hello again cost management aficionados!

I would like to announce the first in my series of deep dive profiles on specific product cost management software solutions. You all may remember that I did a two-part series on the history and landscape of PCM and Spend Analytics solutions with our good friends over at SpendMatters.com in December. You can find those jumping off point analysis here and here.

As of late last week, we posted the first of our deep dives on one of the solutions, What’s the Price (WTP).  Please check it out over at Spend Matters. One caveat: I have been the victim of my own success in that Spend Matters thinks the article such good content that you will see a teaser article and then need to pass through their paywall to see the full analysis.

WTP is really intriguing as a software solution, so I hope you enjoy the analysis!

Here’s a teaser of some of the insight that you’ll get:

Click here to read more!

Eric A. Hiller

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