Examples of Frugal Engineering

This blog post is in continuation to my earlier post on "Frugal Engineering and PLM". In that post I had tried to but a brief idea on what Frugal Engineering was (which is also being now termed as "Gandhian Engineering". In this post I posting a few examples of this brave new field of work.

1. Tata Nano: Obviously Tata Nano comes in at a first when we talk to Frugal Engineering. For a video on the car please see my earlier blog post "Frugal Engineering and PLM"
2. Nokia 1100: A very basic model 
3. Godrej ChotuKool:  See above pictures
4. Tata Swach: Water filter at Rs. 999.  Approx $20. Swach does not require running water, power, or boiling once installed. Each of its filters can produce 3,000 liters of purified water, enough to provide a family of five drinking water for a year.
5. Samsung's washing machine with sari cycle
6. Mini Truck Ace
7. Aravind Eye Care System (AECS): AECS now treats around 300,000 cataract patients in a year.The cost of a typical cataract surgery in the U.S. is around $3,000. AECS has managed to bring down the cost between $30 and $300. Detailed comparison here.
8. Jaipur Foot: " The Jaipur Limb is so efficient that after this limb is fitted, a person can walk like a normal person without a stick or support, and even run, ride a bicycle and climb a tree, Many of the patients can, after the fitment, go back to work in the field, factories, shops and offices."
9. GE Vscan Portable Ultrasound Clam Shell Scanner
10. Narayana Hrudayalaya Cardiac surgeries in the United States can cost up to US$50,000. In India, they typically cost around US$5,000-US$7,000. Depending on the complexities of the procedure and the length of the patient's stay at the hospital, the price tag increases. At Narayana Hrudayalaya, however, surgeries cost less than US$3,000, irrespective of the complexity of the procedure or the length of hospitalization.From India Knowledge@Wharton. 

Godrej ChotuKool

Godrej ChotuKool

Tata Swach

Tata Ace

While this list of examples is by no means comprehensive, I intended to show that there are lots of activities happening in India to give extreme affordability with disruptive innovation. I would encourage readers to have a look at this article published in HBR by Jeffrey R. Immelt, Vijay Govindarajan, and Chris Trimble: How GE Is Disrupting Itself

Frugal Engineering and PLM

The term frugal engineering was coined in 2006 by Renault Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn to describe the competency of Indian engineers in developing products. He says in an interview "...We are here to learn about frugal engineering".

So what is Frugal Engineering?

From Wiki Answers "Frugal Engineering is the science of breaking up complex engineering processes into its basic components and then re-building each component in the most economical manner. The end result is a simpler, more robust and easier to handle final process. It also results in a much cheaper final product which does the same job qualitatively and quantitatively as a more expensive complexly engineered product.

It is generally believed that Indians and other South Asians are the most adept in frugal engineering, because resources and capital are scarce in this region."

The Economic Times says:

"Frugal engineering is not simply low-cost engineering.

It is not a scheme to boost profit margins by squeezing the marrow out of suppliers' bones. It is not simply the latest take on the decades-long focus on cost cutting. Instead, frugal engineering is an overarching philosophy that enables a true "clean sheet" approach to product development. Cost discipline is an intrinsic part of the process, but rather than simply cutting existing costs, frugal engineering seeks to avoid needless costs in the first place."

Further on

"...It recognises that merely removing features from existing products to sell them cheaper in emerging markets is a losing game. To achieve the drastically lower prices that emerging markets require companies must be open to rethinking all aspects of the product."

Frugal engineering is catching on as per this report in Business Standard.

Some examples of such products in this strategy paper:

The trend that surfaced when Tata Motors' tiny $2,200 car, the Nano, hit Indian roads in July, has resulted in a slew of new products for people with little money who aspire to a taste of a better life. Many products aren't just cheaper versions of well-established models available in the West but have taken design and manufacturing assumptions honed in the developed world and turned them on their heads. For the farmer who wants to save for the future, one Indian entrepreneur has developed what is, in effect, a $200 portable bank branch. For the village housewife, a wood-burning stove has been reinvented to make more heat and less smoke for $23. For the slum family struggling to get clean water, there is a $43 water-purification system. For the villager who wants to give his child a cold glass of milk, there is a ChotuKool - the $69 fridge for rural India that can run on batteries. And for rural health clinics, whose patients can't spend more than $5 on a visit, there are heart monitors and baby warmers redesigned to cost 10% of what they do elsewhere.

automotiveproductsfinder says: "The real thrust for frugal engineering and innovation seems to emerge at the supplier level. And helping put up a smooth communication link between suppliers and automakers to seek a closer and more fruitful collaboration are IT companies that are introducing better and more open PLM, engineering and link platforms in India at the same time they are introducing them to automakers in other parts of the world."

My question is:  In what ways can an existing (or even new) PLM system aid the frugal engineering process? Btw some thinking on a slightly different line here: “Is Frugality Fashionable?”