Manufacturing technology
Simplicity pays
Design for manufacturing and assembly (DFMA) in ABB
Tomasz Nowak, Marcin Chromniak, Robert Sekula, Lucas-Lu Gao
Increasing competitiveness is an accepted fact of com- However, the ways in which companies have been doing
pany life. For as long a people can remember, companies this have been changing with time. The methods that
have been exclaiming how competitive the current world worked yesterday will not necessarily suit today’s or
market is. There is no doubt this same sentiment will be tomorrow’s market. In this context, manufacturing and
uttered in the foreseeable future and beyond. assembly oriented product design plays an important
role.
The ability to efficiently develop and produce high quality,
reasonably priced products that meet customer expecta- ABB has realized this simple engineering philosophy and is
tions is essential to continued profitability and global applying “Design for Manufacturing and Assembly” (DFMA)
competitiveness. techniques to great benefit.
B ack in the early days of product
design and manufacture, sequen-
tial engineering, with its specialized,
development processes. These ap-
proaches still work today for produc-
tion processes where simple, standard
This, added to technical problems of
increasing complexity – not to men-
tion shorter time-to-market – very
but separated development steps (ie, goods are created. often resulted in designs that, put
“I design, you produce” philosophy), simply, could not be manufactured!
took pride of place. Development However, the inadequacies of sequen-
activities such as design, technology, tial engineering became apparent as: What was needed therefore was a
testing, and service were performed companies grew and expanded into concurrent engineering approach that
by different departments. This ap- other continents; technologies ad- focused more on teamwork and infor-
proach worked very well for Ford’s vanced; and problems became more mation exchange between the various
first manufacturing line at the begin- complex. For one thing, organization- departments, no matter where the loca-
ning of 20 th century where the Model al structures within a company meant tion. In recent years, several methods
T car was produced. The Frederick many departments were no longer in have been proposed, including Quality
Taylor philosophy – any complicated the same country let alone under the Function Deployment, Robust Design,
job can be transformed into a se- same roof. At best, vital communica- Collaborative Manufacturing, Rapid
quence of straightforward seperated tion and collaboration was reduced to Prototyping, and Design for Manufac-
steps – was also applied to product an absolute minimum. turing and Assembly (DFMA). Of all
ABB Review 1/2006 55
Simplicity pays
Manufacturing technology
these methods, DFMA probably stands tend to be neglected simply because as the number of parts is reduced.
out as being the most powerful. designers lack a reliable method of Additionally, inventory and work-in-
managing and understanding them. process levels will go down with
In very general terms, DFMA is a set DFMA helps project teams analyze fewer parts.
of methodologies and principles that and understand the cost effects of
guide the process of proactively design- their design decisions anytime during There are two basic principles to DFA:
ing products to optimize all lifecycle the product development cycle. It The best-engineered part is no part
functions (fabrication, assembly, test, provides a strategy for identifying at all!
procurement, delivery and service). early cost drivers and develops tactics If the part cannot be eliminated,
to reduce their impact throughout the minimize the time required to
DFMA for novices manufacturing process. grasp, align and assemble it.
Reducing costs and time-to-market has
become two of the most important DFMA consists of two complementary Part reduction strategies involve incor-
elements for a company’s success. methodologies: Design for Assembly porating multiple functions, if possi-
Crucial to achieving this is the reduc- (DFA) and Design for Manufacturing ble, into single parts 1 . In particular,
tion in the number of prototypes cre- (DFM). this applies to components which are
ated. For this to happen a culture of not absolutely essential for product
analysis must become the norm. Design for Assembly (DFA) operation, or which are not required
During the early stages of design, by standards (norms) or customers.
During the development stages of a control of part count is paramount to
new product, cost and cost drivers maintaining cost targets. DFA is a DFA recognises the need to analyse
must be carefully considered. Yet they technique that helps simplify products both the part design and the whole
by focusing the attention of design product for any assembly problems
teams on part count and part count early in the design process. DFA
DFMA reduction. It allows engineers to de- analysis looks for three aspects:
termine the theoretical minimum num- Relative movement: if there is an
ABB has recently begun collabo- ber of parts that must be in the design essential relative movement between
rating with Professor Robert for the product to function as re- active components, then it is likely
Sturges of Virginia Tech to train quired. When unnecessary parts are different parts are needed (or part
present and future ABB leaders in identified and eliminated, unnecessary count reduction becomes impossi-
DFMA practices. What Prof. manufacturing and assembly costs can ble). However, some changes in
Sturges says about DFMA: also be eliminated. In other words, component material and the manu-
“A number of myths seem to per- fewer fabrication and assembly steps facturing process must also be con-
vade the production field, keeping are required, and manufacturing sidered. Small movements may also
us from the serious business of processes can be integrated or even be achieved in other ways, for ex-
fundamentally understanding our reduced. Costs related to purchasing, ample, through plastic hinges, flex-
processes: stocking, and servicing also decrease ing or alternative joining methods.
If you designed it, you can
manufacture it. 1 Design for Assembly (DFA) – analysis of unnecessary parts
If you can draw it, you can
manufacture it.
DFMA is a non-problem, since Start
manufacturing is performed in a
structured environment.
We contrast these ideas with the Does mobility N Disassembly N The same
realities of modern manufacturing: exist? possible? material?
Parts are manufactured by
machines but (largely) handled Y
Y N Y
by people. Part
If we make it easy for a machine Y
self-secured after
to handle, a person can handle assembly?
it better.
If a person can’t handle it A B N C
easily, design the product and It cannot be It cannot be Consider combining
the process together. eliminated. Consider eliminated but with assembled
DFMA gives us the tools and tech- change in material consider adding parts or transferring
niques to manage both product or/and process securing features its features
design and process design from a
quantitative, analytic, and econom-
ic perspective.” Stop
56 ABB Review 1/2006
Simplicity pays
Manufacturing technology
Need for disassembly To minimize machining,
2 Design for Manufacturing (DFM) – break-even calculations
(service): Although there near net shapes for parts
may be no relative move- that have been molded
ment during operation, a or forged are recom-
component may require mended.
adjustment or replace- Design for ease of attach-
ment. ment by providing a large
Different materials: If there solid mounting surface
is no important need for and parallel clamping sur-
neighboring components faces
to have different material Avoid designs with sharp
properties, such as electri- corners or points as these
cal or mechanical, the part put more strain on the
reduction strategy may be cutting tools.
applied. fewer components that are both func- Thin walls, thin webs, deep pockets
tionally efficient and easy to assem- or deep holes should be avoided
Finally, it is neccessary to see if the ble. because of the risk of distortion
part is self-secured after assembly. In during the clamping and machining
this case, the elimination of fasteners process.
and joining elements must be ana-
DFM is a systematic Favor rectangular shapes over
lyzed. approach that allows engi- tapers and contours if possible.
neers to anticipate manu- Avoid hardened or difficult-to-ma-
Once part reduction has been taken chine materials unless absolutely
as far as possible, DFA then turns its facturing costs early in the necessary.
attention to simplifying the assembly design process, even Put machined surfaces on the same
process. How the assembly process is plane, or together with the same
realized depends largely on compo-
when only rough product diameter to minimize the number of
nent design and the interfaces be- geometries are available. operations.
tween parts. Therefore the geometri- Design workpieces to use standard
cal characteristics of a particular com- Design for Manufacturing (DFM) cutters, drill bit sizes or other tools.
ponent, such as shape, tolerances, DFM is a systematic approach that
and weight and size, must be ana- allows engineers to anticipate manu- Both, DFA and DFM use everyday units
lyzed. In addition, assembly aspects facturing costs early in the design and easy-to-read metrics (eg, seconds,
such as fastening, assembly motion, process, even when only rough prod- dollars), making it easier for engineers
insertion, and alignment methods uct geometries are available. to evaluate different design and assem-
must also be considered. bly alternatives, and to quickly judge
Engineers tend to design for manufac- production costs and times.
The concept of assembly process turing processes with which they are
analysis relies on so-called “penalty familiar. DFM, however, encourages How DFMA works for ABB
time”, a kind of artificial weight which development teams to go further by It is sometimes the case that a typical
evaluates potential assembly difficul- investigating all the major shape-form- product offered by a company is:
ties. Each assembly aspect is judged ing processes and different materials functional but complex; reliable but
and awarded a time score. The exem- so that components or products can
plary penalty times for the fastening be more economically produced. Con-
3 Design for Manufacturing (DFM) – sugges-
aspect of an assembly process is sider, for example, the fabrication of a
tions for the machining process
shown in Table 1 . simple product frame. A DFM analysis
shows that it is more economical to
A thorough DFA analysis should result use steel welding with a production radii corner chamfer
in an elegant assembly process with volume of less than 200 pieces. Above
this volume, iron casting is deemed
more economical 2 .
Table 1 Penalty time for manual fastening
operations.
DFM also offers specific guidelines for EXPENSIVE CHEAP
different fabrication processes, and
Fastening method Penalty Time
this is illustrated by a simple example
No fastening method or snap
shown in 3 . The following guidelines
fit only (the part is placed on 0s
are suggested for a machining
or in an already assembled part)
process:
Screwing or pressing opertion 3s
Adhesive fastening method,
Consider castings or stampings to
8s reduce the machining required for chamfer radii corner
welding, riveting, soldering
higher volume parts.
ABB Review 1/2006 57
Simplicity pays
Manufacturing technology
over-dimensioned; of high quality but current transformer, which needed to
DFMA Decalogue
expensive; and very often exceeds the be simplified to reduce manufacturing
requirements of developing markets costs. The application of DFMA, to-
(and is therefore beaten by cheaper gether with some innovative design, Design for the minimum number
competitors). The answer to this prob- helped bring about new design and of parts
lem is to simplify the product design manufacturing possibilities for this Design parts to be multifunc-
because, put plainly, “simplicity pays well-known and standard ABB prod- tional
off”. uct 5 . Use standard components, mate-
rials and processes
There are numerous examples within Other DFMA examples cover the re- Develop a modular design
ABB where proper manufacturing and design of products for global markets, approach
assembly oriented design has not only for example: NCX Open-Fuse Cutout Minimize orientation of parts
brought about significant quality im- for the Chinese market; a new design Apply stackable – uni-directional
provements but cost reductions as concept for Flame Scanners developed assembly
well. One such example is ABB’s Pas- in the USA and Italy; and the redesign Facilitate insertion and align-
sive Voltage Indicator (PVI). The DMFA of Atomizers produced in Japan. ment of all parts
method was successfully applied at Avoid threaded fasteners
a very early stage in the project, ie, With regard to the redesign of NCX Eliminate adjustments
when the preliminary design of the Open-Fuse Cutout, DFMA identified Work as a TEAM
new product was defined. The end three areas where engineers needed
result was a significant reduction in to focus to produce a low-cost com-
the number of parts needed (from petitive product: parts reduction; the Summary
11 down to 7), which in turn cut use of a more economical material; When it comes to new products,
manufacturing costs and assembly and the improvement of parts manu- customers demand functionality and
times 4 . facturability. After the redesign activi- high quality at a reasonable price.
ties, 13 ideas grouped into two design The ability to meet these expectations
Another example concerned the re- concepts with the 10–15 percent cost at low cost is essential to continued
design of ABB’s TPU medium voltage saving were achieved. profitability and global competitive-
ness. In this context, manufacturing
and assembly oriented product design
4 Passive Voltage Indicator (PVI) – DMFA applied at the conceptual stage
plays a very important role. ABB has
realized this simple engineering phi-
losophy and is continuously benefit-
ing from it. The DFMA technique has
been successfully applied to several
projects, proving that collaborative
design and better interaction between
engineering and manufacturing de-
partments reduces production costs by
an impressive 10–15 percent without
Preliminary design Final design any heavy investments. “Teamwork
and simplicity pay off!”
5 TPU Current Transformer – Standard design (left) versus possible low-cost design for global
markets (right)
Tomasz Nowak
Marcin Chromniak
Robert Sekula
ABB Corporate Research
Krakow, Poland
[Link]@[Link]
[Link]@[Link]
[Link]@[Link]
Lucus-Lu Gao
ABB Corporate Research
Beijing, China
[Link]@[Link]
58 ABB Review 1/2006
