5 Easy Design-for-Manufacturability Ideas

When you’re bringing new products to market, it’s essential to consider the entire production lifecycle before moving towards manufacturing. Keeping the manufacturing and assembly in mind when designing the product can save time and money during the production process. As the final price of the product can determine its viability, finding the optimal design for manufacturing (DFM) will aid in balancing the productive-efficiency curve.

DFMA – Design for Manufacturing and Assembly

Finding lean manufacturing and assembly processes isn’t exactly simple. Once the functional design of the product is complete, you should optimize the entire lifecycle towards its physical production requirements. You should identify all the materials and components, as well as the manufacturing tools and staking requirements for the final assembly. The design for manufacturing and assembly (DFMA) process can reduce product cost by as much as 80%.

Here are five easy design for manufacturability ideas to keep in mind when developing your new product.

1. Reduce the Part Count

Firstly, the number of parts used in the design greatly affects the manufacturing process. Reducing the number of parts by either combining or eliminating unnecessary elements entirely will ensure an efficient production line. Finding creative ways to integrate components and simplify the design ensures your product is less likely to experience failure, while also speeding up the manufacturing process.

2. Standardize the Components

Wherever possible, use the same components throughout the design. Each different component type may require different tooling or skills during the manufacturing process. Use the same components throughout different product ranges, if possible, to ensure the facility has the capabilities to produce the product.

3. Keep Tolerances Realistic

To prevent any weaknesses in the components, always allow for the maximum tolerance instead of the minimum. Each component’s tolerance could affect downstream parts, so approaching the entire product’s material characteristics from a holistic point of view is essential when doing the detail design of the unit.

4. Use Heat Staking for Plastic Assembly

Heat staking technology works much better than both mechanical fasteners and ultrasonic plastic assembly. With heat staking, a single machine cycle performs the assembly, instead of multiple motions required for each fastener. Heat staking is also safe for electronic product assembly, as opposed to ultrasonic technologies, which may create component failures.

5. Remove Manufacturing Doubts

Lastly, always keep the manufacturing requirements in mind. Wherever a possibility of doubt exists as to how the parts fit together, try to eliminate it from the process. It will ensure a faster run for each product and prevent any incorrectly assembled units from leaving the line.

Let Thermal International Press Assist You with Finding the Optimal DFM

Thermal Press can help with finding the optimal product layout for manufacturing and assembly. If you need to optimize your product before moving to production, we can help re-design for manufacturability using innovative and efficient assembly procedures. For every production run, the leanest process will ensure that the products remain cost-effective and simplify each of manufacturing tasks.

Tags: design for manufacturability, dfm, dfma, plastic assembly