How relevant is "design for manufacturing

[dfmxenia]

Design organizations have design as well as manufacturing
teams. Finalized CAD designs flow to the manufacturing
teams , however, typically, several design errors are
identified and this leads to numerous design iterations .
What are ways to get your design engineers to 'design for
manufacture' Some thoughts here http://goo.gl/GgIAx would
appreciate your inputs

 

[SRINIVASANIYER1]

Any tool is only as good as how it is put to use. Tools like DFM, or FMEA are subjective tools and their effectiveness is only as good as the TEAM USING IT.

 

[srieger]

Experience and training on every piece of equipment to understand how it works is key. If you don't fully understand what the process limitations are, you can't design around them.


It's much easier is most of your manufacturing is in-house. You can design for specific methods of manufacture.

 

[Roger]

loudreis:


You are right on! Without the EXPERIENCE you know a bunch of theory! The problem is, for me, my experience is not much good to the managers who think without a BS degree I am not worthy. I have worked with "degreed" engineers that were not worthy of being called draftsmen. But, they get the job before me. Go figure.

 

[Jouni]

Check: www.gold-cam.fi

 

[Pro CNC]

One part of our company is a large contract machine shop
and we see the worst designs come from all sorts of
companies. I believe it is a serious problem that there
are no more formal apprenticeship programs in the US.
New engineers are entering with workforce with no
experience on the shop floor and they are frankly
clueless. They may eventually learn it, but it will be
at a huge price to their companies. To help combat this
we have been publishing a free newsletter for the past 2+
years on DFM.
<a href="http://procnc.com/resources/newsletters" target="_blank">DFM
Newsletter</a> It very real practical information - not
all theoretical at all. We have also started offering
DFM Bootcamps to engineers around the country.
<a href="http://procnc.com/resources/dfm_bootcamp" target="_blank">DFM
Bootcamp</a>

It is vitally important for the competitiveness of our
nations manufacturing that we elevate our collective
skills in this area. Thanks to everyone who cares about
this.

Thanks!

 

[moriarty]

Go and read Product Design for Manufacture and
Assembly by Boothroyd & Dewhurst. The software
looks particularly interesting - has anybody used it ?

PTC should acquire them.

For sure it doesn't tell you how to design a tool or
pattern but at least it gets the strategy right and gets
manufacture thinking into the design process. Its not all
just about knowing the metal cutting process. There's
also getting the assembly design right and the quality
design right.

DFM is a big field and being able to cut chips is just a
small part of it. With offshore manufacturing being the
fashion, learning about it all is hard for juniors -
perhaps the accountants need to answer that question.
Edited by: moriarty