•Reference 2, a paper in the 2017 European Space Mechanisms and Tribology Symposium about volume production of pointing mechanisms in volume production for several space programs by JeanNicholas Lajoie, provides good insight into current volume production for space. •Reference 3 the book Design for Manufacturability: How to Use Concurrent Engineering to Rapidly Develop Low-Cost, High-Quality Products for Lean Production by Dr. David Anderson shows methods to develop manufacturable products with the lowest cost in the least time and provided the author good insight into cost savings in general. •Reference 4. The book Toyota Production System by Taiichi Ohno is considered one of the fundamental texts of lean manufacturing. •Reference 7, The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement, serves as a good introduction to the value of and methodologies for streamlining manufacturing told as a story. •Personal observations of a certain burrito restaurant showed the author lean manufacturing in action. The field of lean manufacturing provides many techniques for us to leverage to reduce the effort and  costs of all aspects of the mechanism build and test cycle. These principles are best suited for volume  production but several of the principles are valuable for build quantities of a few units. The engineering in  the field of lean manufacturing is well developed and is well outside the scope of this paper. This paper  will illustrate a few key principles that will provide extremely valuable to inspire readers to learn more.   One of the key philosophies that has provided the author immediate benefit is a ‘relentless search for  waste.’ Continually questioning any production, test or for that matter any design element with the  question of ‘Is this necessary?’ will tend to expose a wide variety of improvements by simplification.    A second key philosophy of value to the author has been a strong mindset in constantly thinking about  the manufacturing cycle while designing. Questions such as (i) ‘How will this be built?’, (ii) ‘How will this  be tested?’ (iii) ‘Can this be simplified?’ (iv) ‘Is there a way to change the design to allow more efficient  manufacturing?’ should be continually asked of oneself.  Part Manufacturing  Many New Space mechanisms will now be manufactured in quantities of hundreds if not thousands per  year. There are considerable advantages to volume production in and of itself, but more so with a search  for ways to best utilize its advantages.    There is nothing unique about volume manufacturing of parts for space relative to industry. This is good  news because there is tremendous existing knowledge and capability for us to leverage. A trip to a  manufacturing show was enlightening for the author and is highly recommended to readers. Tremendous  manufacturing capability exists to manufacture parts and assemblies in volume at low cost. The key for  those of us who’ve spent a career building in low volume is to find and utilize this existing volume  manufacturing capability base.   The emerging field of additive manufacturing (AM) is receiving a lot of excitement these days and can  certainly be valuable for mechanisms. However, it is not a panacea, nor is it one-size-fits-all. The author  has found four key points to understand about additive manufacturing:  1. AM is not a simple as sending the CAD file to the printer. The part to be printed must be designed to work within the parameters of the additive manufacturing technology chosen. 2. Additive manufacturing is very valuable for use in accelerating the prototyping phase. This can greatly enhance the critical concept development process. Even if the production parts will not be made by AM, AM can often be used to produce prototype parts faster than any other method. 3. AM enables the creation of shapes not possible by any other method. A classic example is embedding curved internal passages in an otherwise solid part. Creative designers can utilize this capability to improve or simplify their designs. 4. AM can be leveraged to make a single part which otherwise would have required many individual parts. It should be noted that 5-axis CNC machining can also offer this advantage. NASA/CP—2018-219887 451