In the world we live today, the cost is considered one of the most important characteristics of a product. No wonder then, keeping production costs down is an important part of the manufacturing of a product. This concept has also been extended over the development costs. In many cases, especially for projects which pioneer a specific filed of electronics, the development costs represent a significant part of the final price of a product. Keeping them down would obviously make the managers happy and win a pat on the back for the engineers (stop hoping for a pay raise!)