Most of a product's costs are fixed or determined during the design phase. Selecting and acquiring the most cost-effective materials at the outset of a project is a crucial step in ensuring fast, efficient product development and delivery to customers. When involved in the early stages, VTech's NPI helps to manage and support the technical definitions of required components and materials. The supply-chain management skills employed by VTech also ensure that necessary parts are available quickly and at the lowest total cost.
     Whether managing a customer's approved vendor list or bill of materials, NPI facilitates all technical material concerns, including:

    Component quality
    Sourcing issues
    Product requirement
    Process change notification
    Part obsolescence

     NPI also works to support and optimize all areas necessary for component selection,       including:

    Packaging selection
    Parts standardization
    Part substitution
    Cost effectiveness
    Sourcing flexibility
    Materials availability