How DFM (design for manufacturability) for product design can save time and money?
The Design for Manufacturability (DFM) is a widely adopted process of designing a part or product that meets the requirements of manufacturing processes to actually produce the part. It is the responsibility of product engineers to not only design the part for fit and function but also design it to remain feasible for manufacturing.
DFM is a proven process to save time and cost in the product development cycle. In many cases, costs can be brought down to half the actual estimated cost by adopting this strategy. DFM also minimizes revisions or rework and speeds up the product manufacturing and subsequently reduces the time to market.
It is thus important to understand your manufacturing processes in and out, its benefits, limitations, and methodologies to design, to ensure that the end product is the one that you desired during the conceptual phase.
Fill the Gaps with DFM Guidelines in CAD. For more information check out this video.
To get the most from your product development cycle, here are some tips that you should follow:
- Develop a team to identify possible flaws in the design and changes required by the customers or internal stakeholders.
- Evaluate customer requirements completely to ensure that costly changes are avoided later in the development stages.
- Ensure that the product design is simple, so that optimization is possible both in terms of design and manufacturing feasibility.
- Try to design parts that are universal rather than suitable for specific users. For e.g. design for right hand or left-hand users. This ensures that you do not spend extra time and money on developing different versions of the same part.
Ensure that parts are symmetrical in design to accommodate easy assembly.
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