NPP developed a cost reduction initiative tailored to a specific customer application: sensor housings for the automotive industry. This initiative proposed design alter- ations leading to significant cost reductions in the manufacturing, post-machining processing and shipping sensor housings. (The preliminary application to a specific housing yielded a 30% piece weight reduction, and 20% piece price reduction.) Part attributes critical to the end-use application, including thread size and stem length, remained unaffected.

NPP has explored the following NL elements:

• Reduce the hex size (and a few associated radial dimensions), that will lead to a reduced part blank size and weight, so that purchased material costs and machining time can be reduced (as well as reduced plastic insert size/weight)
• Increase the diameter of certain inside radial dimensions in order to reduce wall thickness, and therefore reduce part weight and increase shavings credit return (for brass), so that net material cost and possibly even freight and plating charges might be reduced
• Redistribute the machining work in the screw machine’s longest operation, in an effort to balance the work more evenly, so that machine cycle time can be further reduced
• Fine tune the gearing of the machines for each job, to minimize tool travel and optimize cutting speeds, so that machine cycle time can be further reduced
• In addition to the above in-process initiatives, NPP would also extend Northern Lights to include the exploration of alternatives to the current crimp design for sensor assemblies, so that a shorter housing (requiring even less metal cost and machine time) and simplified sensor assembly are possible.