Design for logistics to gain competitive advantage: Lessons learnt in a start-up firm

The research questions addressed in this research are how the design of a product can be improved to minimize transportation costs without sacrificing performance and how can the methodology developed be institutionalized for future use in a company which has limited resources and capabilities. Considering logistical requirements in design of a product which is heavy and bulky and involves significant logistics costs enabled to firm to gain competitiveness. The exercise underscored the importance of understanding logistical requirements, freight costs and dimensional constraints early in the design phase which is usually neglected by start-up firms focused on the engineering driven innovativeness of the products. The processes developed along with guidelines facilitate future use which can help such firms to proactively consider logistics requirements at the design stage.