Published by : International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT)

http://www.ijert.org ISSN: 2278-0181

Vol. 7 Issue 07, July-2018

Cost Optimisation of a Formula Student

Monoposto
Rohan Rai
B. Tech. Student
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology, Bhubaneswar
KIIT University, Bhubaneswar, India

Abstract - The following paper deals with several cost optimisation the amount of knowledge Team has gained while designing
techniques which a Formula Student Team can use in their daily and manufacturing the car by themselves; and the parameters
functioning for building a cost effective and budget friendly on which they have performed the research work behind
vehicle. This paper will throw light on various cost curbing
designing or selecting the specific designs/materials for each
aspects a team can use, especially the teams which are newer in
the FSAE competitions and are planning for starting a structured and every part of the vehicle. All the Teams are further judged
team. Also, guidance will be provided for excelling in Static on the same basis by Industrial Experts and Judges.
Events such as the Cost and Manufacturing event or the Business The Cost and Manufacturing Event/Cost Report is a very vital
Logic Case event held at all the FSAE Competitions world-wide. part of the entire preceding. It teaches the Team to take steps
A proper Financial planning and execution is must for designing which can lead to the cost optimisations of their Formula
and manufacturing a formula student vehicle. Proper Charts, Student Vehicle.
Tables and Graphs have been used for the easy references of
students and their teams. 2. COST AND MANUFACTURING EVENT/COST REPORT
The main motive behind conducting this event is to determine
Keywords- FSAE, Static Events, Cost Reduction, Cost Report, Bill
Of Materials(BOM), Radar Chart, Lean Manufacturing, Analysis. the Team’s knowledge behind the manufacturing processes
used and the costs involved in making the car. This consists up
of the trade-off decisions, design optimisations made, smart
A. INTRODUCTION manufacturing techniques, cost reductions involved since last
1.Background manufacturing, make or buy decisions and the differences
Formula Student is an Engineering Design event featuring between mass and prototype, design and production. Other
students who are pursuing their Graduation and Post- factors included are Financial and Resource planning,
Graduation from different disciplines of Engineering and Environmental Influence of Vehicle Production, etc. This event
Technology. The students of different National and is divided in to two parts (i)Bill of the Materials and Costed
International colleges form their team which collectively Bill of the Materials (ii)Cost Discussion.
designs and builds an open wheel formula type monoposto or
race car based upon prescribed set of internationally approved 2.1 Bill of the Materials(BOM) and Costed Bill of
rules and standards, which is further judged and granted Materials(CBOM)
technically fit status by recognised experts from the field of The BOM is a sorted list of each and every vehicle part along-
mobility engineering. The main objective of this is to comply with the processes used to manufacture them and the fasteners
students with a practical holistic approach of designing and and tooling used to assemble them to the car. The CBOM
manufacturing of a four-wheel Automobile along-with the consists up of the costs involved for each of things mentioned
skills of management and leadership. It also develops among above.
the students the basic idea of how an industry is operated and The BOM is broken down in to the manner-
functioned. The events organised for the students are divided in i. BOM to Systems. As per the Internationally followed
to four major parts; which are (i)Technical Scrutineering and FSAE Rule Book systems are of Eight types
Tests (ii)Dynamic Events (iii)Static Events. namely, Brakes, Engine and Drivetrain,
The technical scrutineering involves complete inspection of the Electrical, Tubes and Spaceframe, Miscellaneous
car, by engineering experts; in terms of mechanical as well as Fit and Finish, Steering, Suspension, Wheels and
electrical applications as per an internationally prescribed list Tires.
of technical elements. ii. Systems are further broken into Assemblies.
The Dynamic Events are permitted for only those cars who iii. Assemblies into Parts
have the passed the technical scrutineering, testing the overall iv. Parts into Materials used and Processes used to
Dynamic Conditions of the, manufactured car. These events manufacture it for the machined parts.
are a Run against Time. Parallelly comes the Static Events v. Processes are further broken into Fasteners used and
which involves the Design Report presentation event, the Cost Tooling involved to assemble the parts with the
and Manufacturing Event and the Business Logic vehicle.
Case/Business Presentation Plan. All these events determine

IJERTV7IS070008 18
(This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.)
 Published by : International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT)
http://www.ijert.org ISSN: 2278-0181
Vol. 7 Issue 07, July-2018

Understanding the need to curb extra costs and becoming

financial-friendly; is among one of the major traits which
today’s Industrial or Manufacturing sectors demand. So,
one needs to be aware of all the Technical, Mechanical as
well as Administrative aspects which can lead to cost
effectiveness.
C. COST CURBING STEPS
i. Raw Material Selection- For any part which is to be
designed by the team, proper material selection is the basic
step before proceeding for the designing phase.
Alternatives to various materials usually used for
manufacturing the product, available at lower costs and
Fig 1: Characterisation of BOM/CBOM providing the same properties, must be selected and
procured. This will lower the initial cost of the product.
Material selection must not be done randomly. Radar
Charts or Spider Charts can be plotted on various
properties including material cost and the best one should
be selected.

Fig 2: A Common CBOM Template (as per the allocated systems)

2.2 Cost Discussions

This section deals with the team’s understanding of the costs
calculated in the CBOM, financial planning and resource
managements, their understanding with mass and prototype
productions, smarter manufacturing techniques which can be Fig 3: Example of Radar Chart for Material Selection
used, environmental influence of manufacturing and much
more related varied concepts. ii. Process Selection- Choosing the right manufacturing
process, also leads in curbing the actual cost of the prototype
B. MOTIVE vehicle. Proper analysis of the process being used must be
The main motive behind Formula Student is to gain the done before finalising it. Opting for processes of lesser hourly
practical knowledge of building a race-car, along-with the rates will turn out as more cost effective for the team. If the
understanding of several industrial methods and goals which Surface Finish of the part being manufactured can be
are involved in the manufacturing of a car in an optimum price. compromised leading to lesser costs than such processes must
be preferred. For example, If the sprocket wheel of the
i. Financial Investments made must be based on proper prototype can be machined using Waterjet, then CNC milling
research and should just not be simply vague. should not be chosen for that, as CNC Milling will prove to be
costlier than the Waterjet machining. Certain processes even
ii. The market must be thoroughly checked and all the feasible depend upon the raw-materials being chosen.
alternatives of any material/part/process should be compared
with each other and finally the most cost effective one should
be finalised for application.

iii. Gradual Cost Optimisation with the best things included

according to the chalked-out budget; should be one of the
primary motive of Formula Student.

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 Published by : International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT)
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Vol. 7 Issue 07, July-2018

TABLE 1: Overall Cost difference from Process Selection of

two vehicles of Team Hermes Racing, India TABLE 3: An example of Make v/s Buy Analysis

iii. Design Optimisations- Optimisations are a key to cost

reduction. This may not strike to everyone in general but
keeping the designs optimised as much as they could be; will
definitely reduce the cost of that specific product. Optimised vi. Lesser Fasteners Involved- Fasteners should not be simply
designs lead to the removal of extra materials from the product used everywhere to attach an assembly or part. Reduction of
and thus lesser raw material in-terms of weight will be fasteners must be done to reduce the costs invested in buying
required. Also, the manufacturing of such designs will be done them. Lesser Fasteners means simpler designs and are easy
at lesser costs because Total Machining Cycle Time will be access when installed on the vehicle. Also, this will save the
reduced. assembly and dis-assembly time of the team.

TABLE 2: Cost optimisation by Weight Reduction of an vii. Use Lesser Reaction Tools- As mentioned in the previous
Upright of two vehicles of Team Hermes Racing, India point, involving lesser fasteners can curb cost. This is so
because doing so will lead to lesser usage of reaction tools and
thus reducing the costs required in tightening the Bolts/Nuts
and installation of fasteners. This reduces the overhead costs
invested and turns out to be an effective point for the Cost
Report event.

viii. Proper Analysis and Validation- Parts designed by the

team itself, should undergo proper structural/thermal/dynamic
Analysis using a CAE software and must be validated
completely before getting them ready for
machining/manufacturing. Doing so will eliminate the chances
of errors and mistakes (if any) before the product is
machined/manufactured or else if a part is wrongly made then
the entire money invested in that goes in vain and a newer part
is required to be made requiring extra money to be invested in
iv. Lean Manufacturing- This may seem as an Industrial Term it.
but is a key element required to reduce the extra costs which
may involve investments on daily basis. Lean Manufacturing ix. Virtual Assembly of Entire Car- Once the designers
leads to reduction of wastage and a systematic arrangement of complete the designing phase, one of the CAD engineer of the
various things including the inventory. Money is wasted if team must facilitate with the complete Virtual Assembly of the
extra materials are procured from the market and if some entire car over any CAD software. This will give the team, a
carelessness is shown in maintaining the Stock Inventory. proof that all the parts designed by its members are perfectly
These are some small things which should be kept in mind by made, no Hindrances are occurring in the assemblies, thus all
the team members while working and taking decisions. the parts can be proceeded further for manufacturing.
Ignorance of this step may direct to Machining/Manufacturing
v. Make v/s Buy Analysis- A make or buy research for the errors which further leads in the processing of wrong
spare parts/assemblies should be conducted by the team for dimensional parts wasting, causing impossible situations for
opting the most Cost-efficient way. This is mostly used for the assembling them and a sheer wastage of money.
Business Logic Case event. The analysis can prove out to be a
cost savvy technique for achieving profits for the business set- x. Heat Treatment- This may seem as Technical term and a
up and can also create a good impression on the judges. vague point for cost reductions to many, but factually it is not.

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 Published by : International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT)
http://www.ijert.org ISSN: 2278-0181
Vol. 7 Issue 07, July-2018

The parts being manufactured must be heat treated after

processing to get them endured from failure/fracture. This will E. REFERENCES
help the parts to last for longer durations preventing cost [1] Rule Book, Formula Student Germany,
involvements in getting them processed on regular basis. https://www.formulastudent.de/pr/news/details/article/rules-
Although Heat Treatments may sometime turn out to be a 2018-v11-published/
costlier process for the teams; in such cases pre-Heat Treated [2] Rule Book, FSAE International,
https://www.fsaeonline.com/page.aspx?pageid=e179e647-
Raw Materials can be used as they are commonly available in cb8c-4ab0-860c-ec69aae080a3
the market, thus causing cost optimisations for the team. [3] Documental Repositories, Team Hermes Racing, KIIT
University, http://hermesracing.in/index.html the abbreviation
xi. Welding Techniques- It may not come to the notice of the
teams, but they waste a lot of money in the welding processes
and in its apparatus. This can be made cost friendly in
innovative ways. For example, if a team is doing Metal Insert
Gas (MIG) Welding, the Carbon-di oxide gas cylinder used for
welding can be mixed with 20% of Argon Gas, which lowers
the cost of the Gas cylinder. Thus, expenses are optimised.
Also, doing so is an Environmental friendly step which can
prevent the release of toxic welding fumes which occur due to
the Carbon-di oxide gas.

xii. Simple and Lightweight- Keeping the parts simpler in

design and lighter in weight will help in reducing the extra
costs which may be required to invest in assembling them or
attaching them.

xiii. Machine Setup/Install Costs- Possible reductions in costs

must be made during Machine Setup and Installation
processes. It proves out cost efficient for the Cost Report of the
team.

xiv. Providing Tolerances- Dimensional and Manufacturing

tolerances must be provided to the parts to prevent any harm
due to certain Human/Machining errors, causing wastage of the
part/assembly.

xv. Monitoring Overheads- The day to day overhead costs of

the team involved in activities such as Transportation,
Procurement, Inventory Control or Promotional/Recreational
Activities must be invigilated efficiently for wastage of
Money. This will indeed help the team in reducing the
overhead costs, which can be used by it for other productive
purposes.
D. CONCLUSION
The points mentioned above can be brought in daily practice
by the teams and it will surely help them in attaining a very
cost-effective Formula Student monoposto; especially for the
newer teams in the league. Formula Student design
competition is meant to develop a holistic approach of a
student towards Engineering and Managerial aspects.

Optimising the costs and making a budget friendly vehicle help

the students to deal with Trade-off decisions, which indeed
helps in developing their decision-making abilities and
enhances their Leadership skills along with their Effective
Engineering skills, which are a prime requirement of the
Industry. Also, by following the mentioned steps a team can
pave their way in making a very Efficient Cost Report and
Cost Discussion reports, giving fruitful Statics results at their
respective events of participation.

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