Design for Manufacturing, Assembly & Testing
Turning a promising concept into a winning product is an extremely complicated balancing act. Designing a product that delivers the desired functionality is only one aspect. To maximize commercial potential, it is crucial that this also takes place in close, interactive alignment with design of the manufacturing processes and production line. What’s more, the ‘ideal’ design for different customers will depend on exactly where their preferred ‘sweet spot’ is within the competing parameters of manufacturing cost, time and quality.
Philips Engineering Solutions integrated teams of consultancy, and manufacturing experts are specialized in finding the optimal solution to such complex design puzzles. Our professionals provide expert assistance in developing an ideally balanced and integrated design that hits your ‘bullseye’ – from concept through industrialization – in the cost-quality-time triangle.
Why Design for Manufacturing, Assembly & Testing?
When companies are developing a new product, or improving an existing one, there are key questions that always arise, such as:
- What kind of choices and trade-offs between manufacturing cost, quality and time-to-market are available to me?
- What will be the critical manufacturing processes and what is the best production line concept?
- Are my current manufacturing facilities sufficient to do the job, or am I going to need to adapt or expand my production lines to ensure easy manufacturing?
- How can I best structure my supply chain to increase the chance of achieving my goals?
Additionally complicating is how closely these factors impact each other. If the initial design for what the product has to ‘do’ is not closely aligned with manufacturing realities and scale-up plans, KPIs will – always – eventually suffer. And this happens all too often in the traditional approach, in which R&D develops a product design in relative isolation from the manufacturing and production equipment design.
Your benefit
Working with our Design for Manufacturing and Assembly experts helps you to close this very tricky ‘gap’ between R&D and Manufacturing. Our cross-discipline approach ensures that every relevant factor and parameter is taken into consideration from the start in identifying your perfect design solution. The results?
- Fast and efficient decision-making and optimization loops before, during and after industrialization of your product
- For new products; an optimal, scale-ready design for smooth manufacturing at the lowest cost, highest quality and quickest speed possible – based on your priorities
- For existing manufacturing; rapid identification of root-cause factors of issues such as unacceptable manufacturing cost, field-call rates, cost of non-quality, and more
- Better-aligned processes across organizational silos to help prevent issues in the future
We deliver
The ultimate goal of all we deliver is ‘easy manufacturing’ and ‘reducing manufacturing costs’ in every possible way. But there are various key aspects and components to our offer that you can make use of singly or in combination:
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Integrated cross-functional design expertise
Our teams are composed of expert consultants in product creation – including the all-important area of cost modelling – as well as highly experienced manufacturing architects and engineers. They can act as sparring partners and advisors at all organizational levels at every stage of the Design for Manufacturing and Assembly process. Together, they are capable of creating, gathering and linking up all the insights necessary to approach manufacturing in an optimal end-to-end way.
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Manufacturing problem-solving
We can also tackle problems you may currently have in terms of yield, or product quality, reliability and costs. In an intensive workshop, our experts help your people dig deep to find root causes – and quickly implementable solutions. These workshops also help to establish better-aligned internal processes that can prevent such issues from arising in the future.
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Implementation support
If desired, our specialists can provide additional support in implementing design planning or workshop recommendations, whether this is needed in the office or on the work floor. They are also available to provide interim support – as an add-on to your own team – in increasing the reliability and predictability of your manufacturing processes and results in general.
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Industrialization strategy
Are you prepared for success? If your product is a hit, how and where are you going to ramp-up? What will your supply chain look like? Have you considered import duties in your calculations, and what it might mean for capital investments? An industrialization strategy that is well-planned in advance ensures the ‘answers’ to these questions are embedded in the design choices you make now, so you don’t miss the wave when it comes.
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Production line design and development
Our services extend far beyond the design stage. We can provide your optimal product and manufacturing design solution from end-to-end. From single, customized machine modules to fully integrated production lines, we can develop and build the equipment and facilities you need and deliver them worldwide.
Our approach to Design for Manufacturing, Assembly & Testing
The concept of Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DfMA) is not new. It’s only logical to design products with the goal of optimizing the ease, speed, costs and quality of manufacturing down the line. All engineering disciplines use it. But our approach delivers extra specialized and powerful value:
- The combination of product development and manufacturing expertise we apply is truly unique. It’s what makes it possible for our consultants and engineers to go wide – and dive deep – together with your own people to evaluate all critical cost factors and production processes involved in finding your ideal solution. This ensures you get the best out of your own talent – as well ours.
- Although we make use of tools and methodologies developed by others, we have also created some extremely effective ones of our own based on countless customer interactions. We can put all our business excellence know-how and ammunition to work in designing your ideal solution, improving your current performance, solving urgent problems, or pinpointing your best long-term strategy.
- And we do so with extreme flexibility. The size and scope of our support can always be fine-tuned to deliver exactly what you need, when you need it.
Our offering
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DfMA workshop
Multidisciplinary workshops with experts of product design, manufacturing systems and industrial supply chains to minimize integral product cost and to increase the quality of the product while applying a lean supply chain.
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DfMA training
A training program with different levels and on-the-job coaching of engineering teams, and engineering managers, teaching the DfMA analysis and tool box.
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3P workshop (Production Preparation Process)
An event-driven process for developing a new product (platform) with major focus on the manufacturing process design, with a close link to the product design.
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MMA assessment (Manufacturing Maturity Assessment)
MMA is a structured approach to give a professional view on the quality of an existing manufacturing operation. The MMA can be used for specific problem solving in manufacturing or to compare the maturity to other production facilities.
Check out our related services
You’re developing a new product, but do not have a clear idea how to produce it yet. How can you make sure the product is designed to be manufactured cost-effectively and reliably? And how can you introduce it into your factory? Do you need a customized production line or only a dedicated machine? Take advantage of our full capabilities: