Product & Design
Bill of materials cost modelling support
Build an indicative cost model for a new product from its bill of materials, using historic component prices, supplier quotes, and current material indices, and flag where a design choice is driving cost.
5–12%
reduction in landed product cost
Opportunity assessment
Moderate impact. Meaningful cost or revenue improvement, likely noticeable at function level but modest relative to total business scale.
Moderate effort. Requires configuration, prompt engineering, and testing. A capable team can get there but expect several months.
Demanding data requirements. Relies on clean, integrated data across multiple systems. Significant data preparation work typically needed.
Low risk. Limited external exposure. A human reviews output before it reaches anyone outside the team.
Moderate people impact. Part of someone's working day changes. Requires training and some adjustment time, but roles remain broadly the same.
Tooling required
Things to consider
The commercial value is in showing the cost consequence of a design decision while the decision is still reversible. A cost model produced after the tech pack is signed off is an accounting exercise, not a lever.
Historic component pricing goes stale quickly in volatile material markets. Blend your own paid prices with a published index and be explicit in the output about which components are estimated rather than quoted.
Do not let the model become the negotiation position. Use it to identify which lines are worth challenging, then negotiate on evidence.
Experiment starter: Rebuild the cost model for twenty products you have already bought and compare the modelled cost against the price you actually paid. If the model is within 8% on three quarters of them, use it at design stage on the next range.
Go deeper in the playbook
Section — Opportunity Identification, including the AI Opportunity Assessment ScorecardSection — RAG and Knowledge Systems: Unlocking Proprietary DataThis is an decision support opportunity — see the relevant playbook section for how to approach it.More in Product & Design
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Technical pack and specification drafting
Draft technical specification packs from a design brief and a library of prior specs — construction detail, measurements, materials, tolerances, and testing requirements — for a technologist to review.
Colourway and print variant generation
Generate colourway and print scale variants of an approved design, rendered on the product silhouette, so the team can review a wide option set before committing to physical strike-offs.
AI Transformation Playbook
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