Design for Manufacturability (DFM), when creating a part for a specific function, is a science and an art. It’s more than just a nightmare for an engineer to hear there is a flaw in the design AFTER manufacturing is underway; it’s a costly event for the manufacturer. This is why our engineers ensure all parts and products are designed with manufacturing in mind and why Design for Manufacturability drives our facility.

Design for Manufacturability Saves Product Launches

Most of the budget for the manufacturing of a part is spent by the time that part is ready for a prototype; tooling, assembly and material costs have already been calculated. For most manufacturers, it’s 70%-80% of the budget. If manufacturers discover a design flaw during production, the cost to now produce can be 10 times higher. Maysteel design engineers avoid this pitfall and by constantly seeing how the manufacturing process needs to be instituted as they start designing the part.

Factors Considered During the Design for Manufacturability Process

Maysteel design engineers work with our clients and with each other to look beyond the function of the product they need to design. We need to consider the parts that make up the bill of materials, how all the parts will come together to make the product work, how that product will be tested once it’s manufactured, and how that part will be programmed. This figures into the cost of producing the product and how the design of the product will come together during manufacturing.

Consider Possible Delays during the Design for Manufacturability Phase

Every manufacturer knows a product development timeline can go off-track producing significant delays; something none of our clients wants to hear. Without DFM, any changes to the design, changes made by the designer or on the factory floor, will significantly add time. Any change will also require going through the approval process…again. Maysteel avoids these delays by considering all aspects of a product through the DFM phase.

Our DFM process also includes our “factory within a factory”, the Innovation Center. Here, our engineers can take a product design that has gone through the DFM process and produce it on all the equipment that will be used when the product hits mass production. The Innovation Center makes our DFM process run faster and much more smoothly in order to save time and money for our clients.

The art of designing a product is entirely different than the act of manufacturing that product, so when you put both together from the start, you minimize so many issues. Would you like to learn more about our DFM process with a FREE whitepaper?

Let’s create your product together!

Media Contact: Lindsay Daguanno • 262-832-9132 • ldaguanno@maysteel.com