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In this continuation of Sandy Munro’s teardown talk, the emphasis shifts from parts and tools to philosophy and impact. Lean design engineering strategy lies at the heart of this discussion, exemplifying how product simplification and manufacturing efficiency are directly tied to survival in today’s hyper-competitive EV and automotive landscape. Munro’s teardown narratives not only highlight poor decisions but contrast them with what’s possible when you strip a product to its essence and redesign it from the ground up.
Bad Design, Real Consequences
Munro opens by showcasing a five-part door latch assembly—an innocuous but illuminating case study. The company that originally made the product went out of business, and according to Munro, design was one of the fatal flaws. The real issue wasn’t failure on the assembly line, but a cascade of bad design decisions that triggered everything from poor quality to skyrocketing cost. Workers couldn’t assemble it easily. Springs got crushed. Screws cross-threaded. Lead-ins were misaligned. It wasn’t user error—it was bad engineering.
And worse, the company didn’t solve the root problem. Instead of fixing the product, they focused on “fixing blame,” a cultural dysfunction all too familiar in legacy automotive circles.
Lean Engineering in Action: From 5 Parts to 2
In a live teardown demo, Munro asked volunteers to assemble a complex latch, then compares it to a redesigned, two-part version that clicks together in seconds. Assembly time dropped from 55 seconds to just 12, then to 3 seconds as workers learned the flow. Quality rose. Waste fell. The difference wasn’t just in time; it was in everything. Lower material cost, better ergonomics, fewer errors, and even reduced shipping and warehouse complexity.
This radical simplification is a masterclass in lean product design—designing for manufacturability, not afterthought automation. Munro emphasized that good design is lean manufacturing. The factory is shaped by the product, not the other way around.
The True Cost of Cheap Parts
One of the most biting examples of failed lean design engineering strategies comes from an attempt to save money by sourcing cheaper components. Springs were bought in bulk without heat treating. Washers arrived without holes. Screws came from Chile with different thread specs, requiring manual thread chasing. In trying to cut piece costs, the company drove up labor costs, energy bills, and scrap rates.
This is what Munro calls the “great American mirage”—focusing on piece cost instead of total accounted cost. That mirage led to utility spikes, steam voids, production delays, and eventually, company failure. The cost was “saved” on paper but exploded in practice.
Harvard, Sacred Cows, and the Ugly Baby Syndrome
Munro spares no punches when blaming outdated thinking from elite institutions. Harvard-trained “whiz kids” focused on cost accounting instead of value creation. Sacred cows—the unchangeable rules of legacy organizations—block progress. Even when presented with better designs and overwhelming savings, engineers and managers resisted change.
Munro calls this the “ugly baby syndrome”—when teams are so attached to a flawed design that they protect it fiercely, rather than admit it needs to go. Factories adopt flawed products, build tribal knowledge around them, and resist engineering fixes. In contrast, Tesla does the opposite. “They don’t let ugly babies hang around,” Munro says. They kill bad designs early.
The Ford Battery Tray Case Study
Munro’s teardown of a Ford Taurus battery tray offers an even deeper look at the impact of design thinking. The original design used 16 components, most of which failed value analysis checks. The bracket threads often stripped, forcing entire alternator assemblies to be replaced. Munro’s redesign eliminated 63% of the parts, cut weight by 48%, labor by 52%, and cost by 65%. Quality shot up by over 100%.
The breakthrough came not because engineers embraced it—but because a VP overrode resistance and got the part into production in two months instead of the projected two years. The result became Ford’s new corporate standard.
Simplify, Eliminate, Automate
The key takeaway? Don’t automate complexity—eliminate it. Munro’s “click-and-go” two-part latch wasn’t better because it was automated, but because it was designed with automation in mind from the beginning. Good design reduces part count, assembly steps, and fasteners, which in turn slashes cost and raises quality.
His teardown team routinely uses a “part value challenge” and “scrap map” methodology to highlight where components can be removed or simplified. Every part must prove its value. If it doesn’t directly support the product’s function, performance, or customer value, it’s a target for elimination.
Deming, Musk, and the Ripple Effect
Throughout the talk, Munro references thought leaders like Edward Deming and Elon Musk. Deming’s wisdom—“as variation is reduced, quality will increase”—underscores why standardizing parts and removing excess steps drives better products. Musk’s quote hits even harder: “The most common error of a smart engineer is to optimize something that shouldn’t exist.”
This is the ripple effect. Every unnecessary part or poorly thought-out design cascades into higher labor, lower throughput, degraded quality, and eventual customer dissatisfaction. Fixing those issues at the source—through lean design—ripples in the other direction, creating exponential gains.
Lessons for OEMs and EV Startups
Munro’s teardown principles apply equally to legacy automakers and EV startups. Traditional OEMs often fall into the “save money” mindset—cutting labor, materials, or supplier costs to hit quarterly targets. Startups like Tesla operate in the “make money” mindset—investing in product simplification, long-term engineering, and design-driven efficiency.
Munro lists key traits of make-money companies:
- Invest early in engineering and manufacturability
- Design for the factory, not around it
- Eliminate sacred cows and encourage change
- Use actionable metrics, not vanity accounting
- Involve teardown and analysis teams from the concept phase
These companies don’t just reduce costs. They lead their markets.
Conclusion: Chew Through the Walls
Sandy Munro closes with a metaphor borrowed from Elon Musk. You can either wander the corporate maze looking for cheese—or chew through the wall and take it. That’s the Munro way. It’s not about doing things the hard way. It’s about refusing to accept that bad design is inevitable.
For automotive engineers, manufacturing execs, or anyone designing for efficiency, the message is clear: lean design engineering strategy isn’t just a tool—it’s your competitive advantage.
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