{"id":79726,"date":"2026-10-16T10:54:36","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T08:54:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.metals.it\/?p=79726"},"modified":"2026-10-16T13:29:20","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T11:29:20","slug":"reverse-engineering-to-reduce-costs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metals.it\/en\/reverse-engineering-per-ridurre-costi\/","title":{"rendered":"Reverse engineering to reduce costs: a Metal\u2019s case history"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the requests we receive more and more often from our customers is to reduce costs without affecting\nthe functionality and aesthetics<\/strong> of the stainless steel<\/u> semi-finished\nproducts<\/a> and complex\nassemblies<\/a> we manufacture for them. That is understandable, given the current international situation and the\nneed to prioritize and rationalize investments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, cost reduction is a very complex operation that, at times, can require true reverse\nengineering<\/strong>. Therefore, it is necessary to review the project in detail and look at it from a different\nperspective, then find a cheaper but equally effective way to produce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We could translate all this with an expression often used in Italy: \"making the most with what you have\",\nreinventing and improving with the resources available<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is what happened when a Metal\u2019s customer<\/strong> - a major international group producing baking\nand pastry systems - asked us to supply cabinets for bread storage and cooling<\/strong>, at very\ncompetitive costs<\/strong> and without affecting<\/strong> the technical performance\nand<\/strong> aesthetics <\/strong>of the product.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is how it went.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The challenge: to manufacture the exact same cabinet in Italy while maintaining Eastern European cost\nlevels<\/h2><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

At Metal\u2019s, we know the market for semi-finished products and baking components<\/a> well and have long produced stainless steel bread storage cabinets<\/strong> designed for Large-Scale Retail (GDO). We know how essential they are for retail chains<\/strong> and, consequently, for their suppliers: they keep production organized and fast-paced, which is why they are supplied to supermarkets as a complement to baking ovens<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is therefore a strategic product for our customer<\/strong>, and the fear of putting its production at risk\nwas one of the levers that pushed them to ask us to manufacture the cabinet. In fact, until recently, the company\nsourced the same item from a manufacturer located in Eastern Europe: a long-standing supplier, but one that the\ngeopolitical<\/strong> situation<\/strong> had suddenly placed in a risk\nsituation<\/strong>. The war in Ukraine, in fact, had raised concrete uncertainties about the continuity of\nsupply for such an important<\/strong> component<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the supplier had interrupted production, even temporarily, our customer would have found themselves without parts\nin stock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, they thought of us and asked us to create the exact same product<\/strong> both\nin<\/strong> terms of functionality and efficiency and aesthetics<\/strong>, but setting an extremely\ncompetitive price target, because it was built on Eastern European standards<\/strong>, where labor costs\nare significantly lower than in Italy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quite a challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Metal\u2019s response: reverse engineering and internal production<\/h2><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Despite Metal\u2019s experience in the production of baking cabinets, soon, analyzing the drawings and the project, we\nunderstood that the challenge was much more complex than it seemed at first glance. In fact, to reach the required\ntarget, optimizing a few<\/strong> construction details was not enough.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We had to rethink the product systematically<\/strong>, intervening on all necessary aspects to reduce costs,\nbut without changing the functional and aesthetic appearance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In complex projects like this, every modification<\/strong>, even seemingly small, has an<\/strong>\nimportant economic impact<\/strong>, because the slightest variation in the price of a component multiplies\nits impact and affects the final price significantly. In this specific case, the<\/strong> cabinet\ncomponents were nearly a hundred<\/strong>, including sheet metal, screws, handles, and gaskets: the meticulous\nevaluation of every single cost item was crucial!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We therefore rapidly developed a sampling<\/strong> with about fifteen alternative technical solutions,\nincluding:<\/p>\n\n\n\n