Cost is one of the major considerations with white goods where manufacturing volumes sometimes run into the millions and there is fierce price competition. FEA can be used on
various plastic components such as snap fits to ensure ease of assembly.
FEA is often employed to optimise castings and plastic mouldings to use the minimum amount of material thus keeping manufacturing costs low. Short lead times from CAD to prototype make FEA an excellent way to evaluate CAD designs before committing to expensive tooling.