Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DFMA) is the process of proactively designing products to optimise all the manufacturing functions and assure the best product performance. Parts are designed for ease of fabrication and commonality with other designs. DFMA encourages standardisation of parts, maximum use of purchased parts, modular design, and standard design features. Designers will save time and costs by not having to “re-invent the wheel”. This tool is sometimes known as Design For Manufacture (DFM) and Design For Assembly (DFA).
The DFMA tool
The design stage is very important in product design. Most of the product lifecycle costs are committed at design stage. The product design is not just based on good design but it should be possible to produce by manufacturing as well. There’s no point having a good design if it is difficult, impossible or costly to produce.
The manufacturing of a part or a product must be considered as being part of the design of the part or product. It is not a separate entity that someone else deals with after the part or product has been designed. The DFMA tool is a structured process that encourages the design engineers to very seriously consider how their design will be manufactured. The DFMA process steps are:
- The cost of re-work
- Manufacturing problems both current and past
- Number of parts
- Modular designs
- Standard components
- Ease of manufacturing
- Manufacturing capabilities
- Mistake proofing (poka-yoke)
- Parts orientation and handling
- Automated production
- Fasteners
- Flexible parts and interconnections
- Assembly direction
- Adjustments and settings
- Design tolerances
The DFMA tool can be used where any parts or products are being developed and is used extensively in the Automotive environment. Essentially the DFMA process should be applied in the development of any products where, efficient and effective manufacture and assembly is important. This could be in new product concepts or if the market is very competitive and a product advantage is needed.
This one day on-site DFMA training course starts with an overview of the DFMA tool and the DFMA process.The intent of this and all our training courses is not to tell or show the trainees what to do but to impart the capability to perform the required tasks. There is no limit to the number of trainees but we strongly recommend no more than 5 individuals attend per course. We find that if there are any more than this the training becomes ineffective and wasteful.
This course is targeted at the product design engineers, the manufacturing engineers and the programme managers delivering new products. This training course is given in English. All our courses are designed to be informal and are based around a series of discussions and practical exercises. A DFMA excel template is provided.
Another great training opportunity from Product Development Consultants
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