DFMA®
Design For Manufacture and Assembly

DFMA product simplification and cost analysis tools, introduced to the marketplace by Dr. Geoffrey Boothroyd and Dr. Peter Dewhurst , the pioneer of DFMA principles, are being used by Fortune 1000 companies who are engaged in the business of new product introductions.

These companies have cut millions of dollars from their product manufacturing costs while creating products that are easier to manufacture and maintain.

 DFMA software is a combination of two complementary tools:

 What is DFMA?

Design is the first step in manufacturing and is where most of the crucial decisions are made affecting the final cost of the product.  Since the mid-sixties, analysis techniques have been researched and developed.  As a result of this research, in 1980, these techniques were made available to help the designer create products that are easy to manufacture and assemble.  The availability of these techniques has created a revolution in manufacturing leading to reduced product cost, improved quality and reliability, shorter time-to-market, lower stocks, fewer suppliers and many other benefits.

As a part of R&D; engineers today are constrained to produce sleek designs that are lean, cheap, robust, simple to assemble and easy to manufacture.  To remain competitive, they are facing the need to make decisions to optimize /economize design of equipment whether, Mechanical or Electrical/Electronic. Product Design Review can be done using DFMA software to shorten the overall design to manufacture cycle time. Early Manufacturing Analysis tools helps to understand the functionalities of various inter-dependent parts /components of the design so that some can be eliminated or combined with other parts

New Product Development (NPD) is a complex and creative process, which is inherently difficult to manage and improve. Having a great design is one thing, bringing that design effectively to market is another. The ability to deliver innovative products to the market on-time, at the right cost and quality is a good indicator of a company’s NPD capability. The significance of NPD in the business value chain must not be underestimated, gone are the days where companies can simply compete on quality and cost. Effective NPD is a valuable source of competitive advantage. It is the point where a high proportion of the customer value added is realized and 60-80% of product quality and cost is locked into the product 

COST KNOWLEDGE THROUGHOUT THE PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT LIFECYCLE

The decisions you make can cost you. Whether your goal is cost leadership in your industry or differentiating your products from the competition, you can achieve a sustainable competitive advantage when product sourcing, manufacturing, and design decisions are based on early cost knowledge that you can count on.

If your goal is to improve your products without increasing your costs, then the lack of cost detail can really hold you back. Product developers often find themselves relying on historical manufacturing and assembly costs recorded for previous or similar versions of a product, for example, or on supplier best estimates. Usually, designers have no way of accurately quantifying whether the specific innovation they are contemplating will increase or reduce overall product cost.

The Design for Manufacture and Assembly suite of software gives you tools you can use anytime during the product development lifecycle to analyze and understand the costs to manufacture and assemble your products. From the purchase of parts from your supply chain to the earliest conceptual stages of design, DFMA software equips you with quick and accurate cost information. The software provides a way to work creatively and objectively with your suppliers to find new avenues for improving design efficiency and profitability. During the development stages of a new product, cost and cost drivers certainly demand careful consideration. Yet they tend to be neglected, especially when designers lack a reliable method of managing and understanding them.