As rising industrial production drives the economic recovery, leading manufacturers detailed their successful rebound strategies at the 25th annual International Forum on Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DFMA) in Providence, R.I.
DFMA results reported by ITT Aerospace, Hypertherm, IDEXX Laboratories, Boeing, Motorola, Pratt & Whitney, QSI, Raymond, Rockwell Automation, Southco and others strongly supported this year’s theme—“Turning Point: Preparing for a New Manufacturing Future.” The data, in many cases, showed significant cuts in material, labor and assembly costs that enabled companies to stay competitive, even profitable, despite the economic downturn. Several presentations also emphasized how DFMA helped generate manufacturing profits without moving production away from the U.S.
“Seeing our customers from so many different industries emerging strongly from the recession is tangible proof of the power of early design analysis,” said Nick Dewhurst, Boothroyd Dewhurst Executive Vice President. “Over three decades, DFMA has provided dramatic, measurable results in each changing cycle of global competition.”
DFMA software helps engineers quantify manufacturing and assembly costs early in the development process to reduce part count and labor, increase assembly efficiency, and benchmark competitive designs and materials. The resulting savings significantly reduce product development cycle time—reverberating down the supply chain from design through manufacturing and beyond to shipping and end-of-life. In the 25 years since the Forum began, users have reported an average of total product cost cuts of 50 percent.
Among the highlights of achievement presented were:
· QSI Corporation (industrial and vehicle display terminals): 20%-40% projected reduction in manufacturing costs and 50%-80% reduction in assembly time. Savings passed on to the customer with no negative impact on profits.
· Raymond Corp. (fork lift trucks). 41% reduction in part cost from an outsourced to in-house manufactured component, and a five-year projected 250% ROI on a modular redesign of fork lift backrest brackets into more efficient, standard sizes.
· Rockwell Automation. Used Six Sigma tools to illustrate the strong statistical relationship between the information generated by the DFMA software to what is experienced in the factory and to improve Rockwell Automation’s DFA process to ensure a consistent global deployment. Shared an example of a redesign where DFMA software was used to achieve a 60% reduction in part count.
· ITT Aerospace. For a ball-valve example, 55% reduction in part count, 58% reduction in labor, 24% total product cost reduction and improvement to product quality and a doubling of production throughput as a result of lean design.
· Southco. Hinge redesign netted 33% reduction in part count and a total cost reduction of 53%, which enabled Southco to meet the customer’s price target and improve profitability.
· IDEXX Laboratories (blood chemistry analyzer). 83% part count reduction, 75% reduction in assembly time, 40% reduction in weight with improvements in serviceability, reliability, inspection, documentation and purchasing management.
“DFMA is a methodology to see things as they are, to define the problem, to ground people in the reality of the product and its parts,” said presenter Mike Shipulski, director of manufacturing at Hypertherm. “Once grounded, once the problem is defined, the solution—half the cost, half the parts, half the time—is real, and so are the savings.”
“Companies realize that early use of DFMA maximizes their Lean and Six Sigma efforts in ways that go far beyond incremental improvements,” says Boothroyd Dewhurst president John Gilligan. “There are practical and achievable methods that help generate profits and distinguish oneself from the competition. Those who have stayed focused on these truths in recent years are emerging well-prepared for the manufacturing environment of the future.”