Released on = August 2, 2006, 6:49 am

Press Release Author = John Busa

Industry = Software

Press Release Summary = Manufacturing, Design, and Sourcing Decision Impact Product
Costs According to aPriori Technologies



Press Release Body = According to Frank Azzolino, President & CEO of aPriori
Technologies (www.apriori.com), "There are a number of reasons why discrete
manufacturers have been forced to take a "rear view" look at product costs
--evaluating and allocating product costs well after production was underway. In
most organizations product cost estimates are developed by specialized organizations
in cost engineering or VA/VE departments. In most cases, these cost estimates are
created separately and independently of the people making the design, manufacturing,
and sourcing decisions. This separation results in many decisions being made in a
cost knowledge vacuum. The impact of these decisions is typically not known for at
least a full financial period after production is well underway."


. Cost information in most organizations is fragmented throughout the enterprise.
Critical pieces of cost information are spread across independent silos within an
organization in different functions like engineering, planning, manufacturing,
sourcing, finance. This situation typically results in estimates that do not
include all relevant information required to make accurate and predictive product
cost assessments.


. Product cost estimates (especially early ones) are often based on historical
information or very general heuristics (e.g. weight) and are too inaccurate and lack
statistical confidence for effective decision making.

. Most cost estimating activity falls on a relatively small group of specialized
people spending hours manually producing each estimate. Since the demand for
costing feedback cannot always be met, the opportunity to experiment with the cost
impact of design, manufacturing, planning, sourcing, etc. alternatives is limited
and can not be readily cost optimized.

. Most cost estimates are static and are not continually updated when new design,
manufacturing, planning, or sourcing information becomes available as the product
progresses through its design-to-production-to-delivery lifecycle. Out-of-date cost
information can not be relied upon for downstream decision making.

. Costing practices are not always standardized across the enterprise. As more
information is available, different costing practices and methods are used to
re-cost items. Unfortunately this makes it difficult to leverage previous estimating
work and build traceability in product cost accrual.

. Typically cost estimates are not managed through a product's development through
production lifecycle. Multiple cost estimates from different sources are created as
different times during the process. It becomes unclear which product cost estimate
is current or valid.

. Today's cost accounting methodologies begin with the financial statement for the
prior closed financial period. The costs in that period are then allocated across
various product lines and processes which are then further allocated for each
individual product. These are by definition "rear view" mirror product costs.

Since this cost information is typically difficult to obtain and not readily
available during the NPI process, manufacturers are forced to take an
after-the-fact, rearward view of the decisions that were made during their NPI
process.

The aPriori cost management platform alleviates these problems a number of different
ways. By using innovative, patent protected technologies, aPriori is capable of
using design information driven off of MCAD geometry, along with its ability to
model production facilities (including machine capabilities, raw materials, and
facility cost structure) and the specific cost accounting methodologies, accurate
predictive, "forward looking" real time cost estimates are created.

"aPriori has customers in a variety of industries including High Technology,
Industrial Equipment, Automotive, and Heavy Machinery. Recent customers include
John Deere, Panasonic, Thomas & Betts, Flextronics, JLG, and Dana Corporation."







Web Site = http://www.aPriori.com

Contact Details = Contact:
John Busa
aPriori
978-371-2006
jbusa@apriori.com