Product design for manufacture and assembly methodologies

• Main Author: Lu, Joyce Ruizhi.
• Other Authors: Ong Nan Shing
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2009
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Manufacturing::Product design
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/17176
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

It has been proven time and again that the implementation of DFMA practices has benefited manufacturing firms greatly. Design for manufacturing (DFM) is design based on minimizing the cost of production and, or time to market for a product, while retaining the quality of product; and design for assembly (DFA) refers to improving product design to reduce the cost of putting parts together, while retaining product functions. The objective of this project is to review the principles, applications and benefits of DFA in manufacturing, so as to provide some references and directions for future research and application. This writing will look into, evaluate and compare various DFA systems such as the Boothroyd Dewhurst DFA method, Hitachi’s Assemblability Evaluation Method (AEM), CSC DFA Analysis method, Sony’s design for cost effectiveness (DAC) method and several recent methodologies proposed in literature published. In order to illustrate the effectiveness of the application of DFA techniques, Boothroyd Dewhurst DFA method was applied onto a consumer product. Upon which, a redesign and reanalysis will be conducted in order to fully appreciate the benefits of DFA techniques. From the results collected, an increase in design efficiency was achieved just by the reduction in overall part counts. From this, its is reaffirmed that large manufacturing firms are bound to benefit even much more if DFA is applied with proper planning during product design. However, it is also important to note that the successful implementation of DFA involves tremendous efforts and coordination among the different teams in a company. Often, there will be conflicting ideas among different functional department in the company. A balance and trade off among cost, aesthetic and functions have to be made.