Shipulski On Design

What is a DFMA Culture?  (.pdf, 1 page)

John Gilligan of Boothroyd Dewhurst, Inc. asked me to describe a DFMA culture.   Here is my description:

At the highest level, a strong DFMA culture is founded on the understanding that The Product strongly governs most everything in a company. Product function governs what customers will pay for; product structure governs a company’s organizational structure; and product features, attributes and materials govern cost. Stepping down one level, the DFMA culture is founded on the understanding that product function and product cost are coupled – they are two sides of the same coin – and are considered together when doing DFMA.In a strong DFMA culture the Design Community leads the charge. The Design Community realizes that it is the only community that can reduce product cost by 30% or more and the Design Community wears their responsibility like a badge of honor. The Design Community knows that designing products with fewer parts, lower cost, and low waste is actually requires higher level, more difficult design work and the Design Community is eager to take on the challenge. The Design Community polices itself on the use of the tools and it actively reaches out to other parts of the organization, including manufacturing, suppliers, purchasing and other engineering teams, to realize the full benefits of DFMA.

In a strong DFMA culture the company believes that The Product governs cost across all facets of the business – taking orders, making the product, maintaining product information systems, shipping the product, and servicing the product. In a strong DFMA culture the company has the courage to go after savings that are immeasurable by traditional cost accounting methods.