Continuous improvement techniques are a recognised way of making significant reductions to production costs. However, they are destined to address only a relatively small proportion of the total cost of production. The author argues that a sound investment in reducing product costs at the design stage pays big dividends. He concludes that failing to take opportunities to design cost out at an early stage can lock you into expending a lot of effort chasing only small percentage reductions in the overall product cost later. Can you truly say that your product teams are focused enough on cost as part of the technical product deliverables at every stage of the new product introduction process? If not, take a serious look at your process and introduce the principles outlined in the article.