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Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DFMA®)
the cost reduction tool for product design and manufacture

Reduce the cost of your designs - as you are designing them - with Design for Manufacture (DFM) and DFM Concurrent Costing®. DFM will help you analyze and compare the costs of different materials and manufacturing methods, in the design phase.

Simplify the assembly and manufacture of your designs - which leads to significant cost savings - with Design for Assembly (DFA). DFA will help you estimate the difficulty of assembly, eliminate unnecessary parts and assembly tooling, and design products that are less costly to manufacture.

Hundreds of leading companies use DFMA methods and tools to make their products "lean from the start." Since the methodology and tools were introduced to the marketplace by Dr. Boothroyd and Dr. Dewhurst in 1983, these companies - including Harley-Davidson, John Deere, and Abbott Laboratories - have cut millions of dollars from their product manufacturing costs while creating products that are easier to manufacture and maintain.

DFMA is used by Fortune 1000 companies worldwide for:

  • Supply chain cost management
  • Product simplification and improved quality
  • Improved communication between design, manufacturing, purchasing, and management
  • Cutting manufacturing costs

DFMA provides real benefits throughout your product development organization:

Manufacturing Design Cost Management C-Level Executives
"You want me to manufacture this design? You're kidding, right?" If you find yourself asking this question more often than you'd like, DFMA can help. You and your design engineers can quickly analyze and manipulate different design approaches. The resulting lean design will contain fewer parts and be easier to manufacture.

more >		 You can improve the manufacturability of your design in the DFMA software through product simplification. You can explore alternatives in processes and materials, and immediately see the cost impact of your decisions. You can provide factual data to manufacturing and your managers, so you can all make valid business decisions about your product design.

more >		 You have a target cost in mind for a new or existing product. What are the main contributors to the cost of the product? DFMA tools can answer that question for you. They can also help you work more effectively with your design and manufacturing engineers, and outside suppliers.

more >		 "What will it cost to produce this? How can we reduce the cost without sacrificing quality?" Our tools make it possible for you to obtain answers to these questions that are based on real-life, accurate data. Data that can be used to support productive, objective discussions, improve products while reducing costs, and hold suppliers to reliable "should cost" estimates.

more >

2008 DFMA Forum
June 10-11, 2008
Providence, RI

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New Report

Power of DFMA® to reduce manufacturing operational costs revealed in new survey

Proof of Performance

More than 100 case studies, showing the actual results of using our DFMA methods and software, have been published in magazines, conference papers, and online.

Taken in composite, these case studies show how companies have used DFMA to achieve :

Labor costs cut by 42%

Parts reduced by 54%

Assembly time cut by 60%

Product development cycle time reduced by 45%

Cost reduced by 50%

See how DFMA can help you reduce costs, increase quality, and shorten development cycles:

Executive White Paper: "How to use DFMA to slash manufacturing overhead, make products competitive, and bring new efficiencies to the manufacturing process"

Case studies: Examples of how our methods and tools have helped dozens of companies improve hundreds of products

What our clients say: Customer testimonials from Dell, Whirlpool, Teradyne, and Harley-Davidson