Shipulski On Design

Archive for March, 2007

Design2Part Magazine published a good article on DFMA’s ability to cut costs, labor, floor space and improve global competitiveness.

Design for Manufacture and Assembly Helps OEM Reduce Warranty Costs, Boost Profits — Design2Part Magazine

An expert from the article:

Five-year implementation of DFMA software creates strong business model for improving global competitiveness

“We started with a vision to make radical improvements in both product performance and product economies,” stated Mike Shipulski, Hypertherm’s director of engineering. “Hypertherm met both of these goals by aggressively applying Boothroyd Dewhurst’s software within our existing programs for robust design and lean manufacturing. We found their product simplification software made it easy for us to improve a product’s performance-to-cost ratio. Moreover, we learned that DFMA ideas and financial estimates also lead to profound savings beyond labor and part cost, creating a domino effect ‘downstream’ in operational areas of our organization.”

Successful Design For Assembly

Each company works with design for assembly (DFA) methods for different reasons. Some companies want to take cost out of their products, some want to make more products in their factories, and some want to simplify the product to increase quality and reliability.

In a growing market, a company wants to reduce labor content to get more products through the factory and to meet demand without adding assembly workers. In a growing market, a company also wants to reduce the floor space required to meet demand without building another factory. Read the rest of this entry »