Accounting for design

Design decides the cost of a product. Ease of manufacture, ease of assembly and a product that customers want bestow competitive advantage on a firm. State-of-the-art accounting systems will reflect resource usage. State-of-the-ark systems will not. Financial benefits can be immense-but many will take time to accrue. Design for service confers benefits on the customer-benefits that may be reflected in the price. Design for disassembly leads to benefits in recycling. Both products and individual parts can be designed for manufacture. Part DFM provides component features in a cost effective way both in choice of materials and in the manufacturing process. Product DFM designs for assembly using the minimum number of parts compatible with product features and overall cost. The author argues that effective accounting techniques are a prerequisite for any real process improvement