A teambased design for assembly methodology

• Published in: Assembly automation Vol. 20; no. 2; pp. 162 - 170
• Main Authors: Appleton, E., Garside, J.A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: MCB UP Ltd 01.06.2000
• Subjects: DFA; DFM
• ISSN: 0144-5154
• DOI: 10.1108/01445150010321814

Design for Assembly DFA is now a well established technique for cost reduction at the designmanufacture interface. The method described here is simple, highly visual and team based and can be learned in a single day of training and experience has shown that a design team can achieve significant savings even during the training process. The method starts with the analysis of an existing product, prototype, or preliminary design by describing the product and assembly process in the form of rows in a design matrix. The rowbased description is then progressively modified by cascading down the matrix through considerations of part count, ease of handling and ease of assembly insertion. The final rows of the matrix represent the improved assembly design and its assembly process, and the body of the matrix contains cells that describe design and process changes in an order that records the evolution of the design process.