Most of a part's cost is decided at the drawing board, long before anyone sees a quote. A bore toleranced to ±0.01 when ±0.05 meets the fit, an internal radius that forces an extra tool change, a custom pin that already exists as an ISO 8734 dowel, each of these is a few seconds of design decision and a permanent line on the piece price.
The problem is when teams find out. Cost usually surfaces after release, when the quotes come back high, and by then the fix is a cost-down ECO with its own review, its own re-release, and its own delay. The savings are the same ones that were available at the drawing board, except now each one costs a change cycle to capture.
Cost Checks While You Design
bananaz checks for cost drivers while you design and again before release. It reads every part and drawing in 2D and 3D and flags the features that drive cost, the tolerances tighter than the fit needs, the radii that force an extra tool change, and the custom parts that already exist as standard or shelf parts. Your preferred materials and tolerances are checked on every drawing, bananaz suggests the swap or the looser tolerance, and the engineer decides.
Fixing a driver at that point takes minutes, a loosened tolerance here, a shelf part swapped in there, instead of an ECO later. Re-run the checks after each change to lock in the savings, and the design that goes to release has already had its cost conversation.
Sourcing Sees the Same Evidence
Because the checks and their findings travel with the design, sourcing sees the same evidence before the RFQ goes out. The conversation with suppliers starts from a part that has already shed its avoidable cost, quotes come back closer to expectations, and the cost-down ECO stops being a standing category of work.
Cost gets designed out instead of negotiated down.
Want to see the cost drivers in your designs? Book a demo with one of our AI consultants.
