What we provide – Enterprise Cost Management Software
aPriori provides an Enterprise Cost Management software platform that enables discrete product and manufacturing companies to understand, manage and reduce their Costs of Goods Sold (COGS). We give our customers an ability to precisely and predictively assess product costs before going to production. aPriori provides this product cost information in real-time and continuously during new product development and product rework activities. This product cost information is available to be used by all functional groups whose everyday decisions contribute to product costs. These functional groups include:
- Design Engineering
- Manufacturing Engineering
- Manufacturing Process Planning
- Cost Estimation, Value Analysis/Value Engineering
- Purchasing, Procurement, Sourcing
- Program and Project Management
The aPriori Enterprise Cost Management software platform is deployed rapidly and can be in use quickly, generating product cost information for all users across the enterprise who contribute to product costs.
aPriori identifies economic opportunity that was not visible before
For all products that are manufactured there are costs associated with the many decisions being made during a product’s development and production delivery process. These decisions include:
- Design decisions on the product’s form, fit and function.
- Manufacturing decisions on the type and specifics of the processes to use.
- Process planning decisions on the routings and machines to use in the process.
- Sourcing decisions on make vs. buy, as well as appropriate vendor selection.
- Program management decisions on product functionality and target costs.
aPriori takes all of these decisions into account in real-time when assessing a product’s cost. For example, aPriori intergrates directly with the CAD system, so every time a designer changes geometry or material, aPriori instantly reassesses cost. Knowing the cost impact of all decisions listed above before going to production presents an economic opportunity for manufacturers to reduce product costs and ultimately reduce COGS. Before aPriori, generating this cost information was difficult and time consuming and typically unavailable for real-time decision making. Additionally, this cost information was only known to a few specialists in the organization. Before aPriori, this economic opportunity was hidden to most manufacturers. With aPriori, product cost information is available to all members of the organization who impact and manage cost.
The aPriori Enterprise Cost Management software platform unlocks this hidden economic opportunity by providing product cost visibility and by answering cost questions early and continuously during the product development and production delivery process. These cost questions could be related to design changes, differences in production volumes, changes to manufacturing process specifications, material selections, manufacturing locations, etc. By answering these cost questions in real-time, aPriori enables users to quickly understand the cost consequences of their design, manufacturing or sourcing decisions, and find the least expensive solution while meeting their various functional requirements. Users are still free to make their own decisions; aPriori is simply answering the very difficult question of what the cost impact of each decision will be.
In all of these cases, aPriori is helping users understand, manage and reduce product costs more reliably and more consistently, as well as reducing the costing process from days or weeks to seconds. With aPriori, users can identify economic opportunities that were not previously apparent. aPriori customers make measurable progress toward their goals of lowering COGS by whole percentage points every day.