You gotta spend money to make money (or in the case of DoD, to save money) ...

Cost is always a consideration for contractors and DoD, and justifiably so. Producibility measurement can't be done for nothing. It will take time to train people in a standardized methodology. Access to computers connected to data bases containing cost histories related to production, materials, etc. is required.

Forms to present the analysis will be needed as well as the time required to fill out the forms which will vary depending on the size of the program involved and the depth of analysis needed to make a given decision. There might even be a need for a dedicated statistician or two if there are a lot of major programs.

And for DoD assuring its program offices are able to evaluate the ability of a contractor to produce will require additional training, manpower, and budget.

But it's worth it. Because, based on the experience of companies that have proven producibility measurement programs, both contractors and DoD can expect improvements such as:

• 30% reduction in product development cost
  

• 30% reduction in product development time
  

• 50% reduction in design changes
  

• 70% reduction in engineering changes after a part is released for production
  

• 30%-50% reduction in labor costs and time between design and production
  

• 80% reduction in rework
  

When producibility measurement can lead to results like that, the costs of implementing it in industry and evaluating it by DoD are returned many times over.