DFM, or Design for Manufacturing, is the process of creating a product or a component of a product in an innovative 
way that optimizes its critical design attributes while also reducing its overall manufacturing cost. There can be a number of ways in which a product can be manufactured. Once a model design is ready, the designing and engineering procedures become fairly simple and less time-consuming. However, that may still not address the costing concern, which can be addressed by implementing DFM principles across the design procedure.
By applying these principles, designers and engineers can devise a product in parts, while keeping an equal emphasis on balanced cost, manufacturing considerations, features and usability and exact purpose. This helps in designing the best product for sale, keeping manufacturing costs at their lowest.
Some of the essential contributing factors that aid in determining manufacturing cost include:
- Precise manufacturing process
- Choice of materials used during production
- Assembly line architecture and how different parts of it connect with each other
- Tolerance aspect of different components
- Considerations related to supply chain mechanism
- Design of different parts and components
- Setting up and finishing of manufacturing assembly line
When Design for Manufacturing Principles are applied, it is essential to evaluate all the aspects of the product as well as the individual components put in it. While it may sound simple at first, only experienced designers and engineers can help a firm derive optimum benefits by implementing the design for manufacturing process. At the same time, it is also not uncommon to have trade-offs between the features and performance of a product with its overall manufacturing cost. It usually depends on the user and his use of the product, for while some may want a low-cost product with limited functionality, others may want the same product to be highly sophisticated, not worrying much about its overall cost.
It is also essential to consider here that certain products will only need specific parts and components to function in the way they are intended. For instance, a concrete broom may be a cheaper alternative to a plastic broom, but it is practically not possible to use it. The final choice thus could not be that cost-effective, the durability could also be an issue for some, but with different outcomes, a user will always be able to get a product as per his preference, be it the cost, the performance, the durability, or a bit of all. These considerations are what add up to create a good DFM, with focus staying on what a customer could probably need or ask for.
Designing Products for Manufacturability
For meeting the objective of DFM, every team member in product development has to abide by certain guidelines, such as:
- Understand in general how products are manufactured by multi-functional design teams through their expertise in manufacturing, while following a number of laid down rules and guidelines
- Design for the processes specifically needs to be used for building a product as per the requirement. If a product needs to adhere to standard processes, design teams must comply and design them accordingly. If processes are relatively new, design teams must design the new processes concurrently as they design the final product.
To learn more about DFM and developing good quality products with cost and time savings, join live webinar by expert speaker Anthony DeTroia, titled ‘Reduce Manufacturing Costs with Design for Manufacturing’ on Thursday, February 2, 2017. During the event, Anthony will discuss how you can design detail parts for ease of manufacturing. He will also provide an introduction to the welding design/manufacturing basics and an introduction to the composite design/manufacturing basics.
