Efficient design for manufacture is like a relay race. If you do it well, the design
will flow seamlessly from concept into production. Get it wrong, the baton is
dropped and your competitors race ahead to gold.
Build the right team.
One of the biggest challenges to rapid product development is ensuring you have a team that understands manufacturing. It is vital that the correct people are involved at the beginning of a project, then their strengths are used appropriately at each stage of development. Building a great team is not easy, but it is well worth the effort because it can save a company huge amounts of time and money. Carefully blending skills, experience and personalities will also reduce stress, thus making the whole process more enjoyable for everyone involved. Being creative and innovative is not easy if your team is fire fighting, playing politics or too frightened put forward ideas.
Take an inclusive approach.
Encouraging and extending a manufacturing “team” approach throughout the entire development organisation provides improved speed to market. Being able to involve all elements of the production process at the earliest possible point in a project will generate buy-in from everyone. Having an open, innovative approach will prevent people from being precious about their work. In addition to making them much more responsive to new ideas or changes to suit manufacturing requirements or processes, working together from the start breaks down the silo mentality found in many manufacturing operations to keep a project at full flow and on into sale.
Bring in experts.
Together with a highly motivated and coherent design/manufacturing team, it is important to identify and build relationships with experts from a range of disciplines who are to be used in the manufacturing process. Developing a strong, mutually beneficial relationship with appropriate suppliers will improve innovation and reduce risks for the project. Involving suppliers as soon as possible in the concept design stage in brainstorming and TRIZ sessions (TRIZ is a problem solving technique based on logic and data, which accelerates the design team's ability to solve these problems quickly & creatively) will ensure designs always have the greatest chance of manufacturing success. Poor designs that do not suit manufacture are flushed out quickly. It never ceases to amaze me how many designs enter the engineering stage before manufacturers and suppliers are consulted. Lack of communication and team work is an extremely high risk approach to all aspects of design, but in product design it is totally unforgivable!
Consider the manufacturing cost.
There are other important areas that are not often fully considered by design teams until it is too late, for example, consideration of the product manufacturing cost. This is directly linked to volumes when the product is on sale, therefore, these two elements will have a strong influence on materials and processes. Sales and marketing departments will provide figures for both so that cost-effective manufacturing processes can be utilised through smart design right at the outset.
Make the process visual.
Working to a consistent design development process that includes manufacturing sign-off at key stages saves time and hassle as a project progresses. Making the process visual in a well displayed flow chart keeps the team on track. Being able to see where a project is and what needs to happen next allows meetings, resources and facilities to be allocated in advance. This naturally draws a project through the process rather than having a stop/start approach when people stumble around without clear direction. It is well worth taking some time out to create a workflow visualisation that is clear to all stakeholders. Displaying it “live” on a large screen maintains a dynamic and efficient flow is taken into manufacture, but a large static poster works very well too.
Tackle assembly and automation early.
Most designers consider tooling in the design process, but many overlook efficient assembly and automation. To be fair, automation is extremely specialised so it may well be an external expert that provides additional input to the design. Obtaining this input at the concept stage will identify areas for simplification or for focus in the engineering stage. Working within a defined process means these issues are tackled early, before being bogged down in trying to overcome a fundamental oversight in the early stages of design.
The people element.
Efficient design for manufacture is all about creating and developing momentum. By working together in a consistent manner it is possible to slash development times and manufacturing costs. As each development stage is passed, confidence builds, risk falls and teams respond to this. Projects then start to be drawn through, rather than pushed, into manufacture. It is not solely down to tolerance analysis, specifications and drawings. Design for manufacture involves people, use them correctly and getting a project into production can be easier than you think.
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