Defining DFM/A in your New Product Development Process

DFM/A training can be provided to develop an understanding of DFM/A principles, practices, tools and methodology. Our training includes many examples to illustrate these principles and exercises to reinforce understanding.  The third day of the workshop is spent analyzing one our your company’s products or assemblies to provide a perspective on how these guidelines covered in the workshop apply to your type of product and learn what can be done to improve manufacturability.  Our Design for Manufacturability/Assembly Workshop is described in further detail.

PD-Trak includes a set of DFM/A guidelines to use as a starting point to develop detailed guidelines for your organization based on the types of products, types of processes, and your company’s and your supplier’s process capabilities. The guidelines provided in PD-Trak cover mechanical assembly, printed circuit boards, machining, sheet metal, injection molding, and castings.  To tailor these guidelines to your company, we can help organize the needed data gathering, guide this analysis, structure the organization of guidelines, assist with their development, and orchestrate their deployment.

PD-Trak also includes a DFM/A Evaluation methodology to use to analyze the manufacturability of a new design.  Our Design for Manufacturability/Assembly Workshop provides instruction in how to use this DFM/A methodology.  We can also facilitate conducting formal DFM/A evaluations of products designs.  Design for manufacturability guidance can be provided to a product team as it works to develop its concept and design. We can provide specific DFM feedback, and facilitate consideration of design, material and process alternatives.

Supplier involvement in a DFM/A program is critical since typically 50-70% of product costs are materials. We can work with the materials organization to help structure a supplier involvement program based on design for manufacturability/assembly, provide DFM/A training to suppliers, and work with key suppliers to establish a DFM/A program.

Finally, we can help define some of the specific new product development process steps to better address DFM/A, define roles and responsibilities for these process steps, and provide guidance in performing steps such as like product and process reviews, how to address DFM/A in design reviews, and how to monitor product builds to gather DFM/A feedback.  We can help establish DFM metrics and insure appropriate management focus on a DFM program.