Benefits of Design for Manufacturability: Part I

By David Clark, New Business Development Manager, the Malco Design & Deliver Group

Design for Manufacturability can make a critical difference in getting your product to market and creating a revenue stream. Research has shown that decisions made during the design period determine 70% of the product's costs while decisions made during production only account for 20% of the product's costs.

The "Tool and Manufacturing Engineers' Handbook" defines Design for Manufacturability (DFM) as the practice of designing products with manufacturing in mind1. It is based on the proactive practice of identifying potential issues and planning for them before they arise. In the next several newsletters, we'll discuss the eight most important benefits of implementing Design for Manufacturability.

The first of these benefits is Lower Capital Investment. Design for Manufacturability places an emphasis on planning and issue identification that can actually lower your cost of capital items, including tooling, fixtures, labor and related services. Early issue identification means that better tooling and fixtures will be designed, and that fewer of them may be needed. The intense planning process ensures that manufacturing labor is used more efficiently, and that fewer ancillary services may be needed, thus further reducing costs.

Another benefit arising from implementation of DFM is Quicker Time to Market. Part costs and quality are optimized when you apply the principles of DFM. Parts are designed for ease of fabrication and commonality with other designs. Design for Manufacturability encourages standardization of parts, maximum use of purchased parts, modular design, and standard design features. This up-front attention to detail typically cuts the time to stable production in half and reduces your time-to-market.

Improved Quality and Reliability is the third benefit of DFM. Get the design right the first time and quality and reliability are designed in, rather than becoming rework problems or causing product performance issues for the end user. Designers consider the cumulative effect of part quality on product quality, and are encouraged to carefully specify part quality. This results in lower long-term costs, fewer warranty issues, reduced stress, and satisfied customers.

1. Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME), Tool and Manufacturing Engineers' Handbook Knowledge Base.

Next month: Part II: Five more important benefits of DFM.