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SMART MANUFACTURING
DFX: REDUCING TIME TO MARKET WITH DESIGN FOR MANUFACTURING
By Nigel Palmer, solutions architect manager, TT Electronics
manufacturing processes, DFx is a widely established framework of methods, guidelines, and standards for creating better quality products starting at the concept design phase. Critically, the DFx framework is tapped as early as possible to drive higher quality products, lower costs, and reduced development timelines. Larger corporate entities are typically more familiar with DFx and expect it as a fundamental service from their chosen Contract Electronics Manufacturer (CEM), yet smaller designers may be less aware of its value.
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WHAT IS DIFFERENT ABOUT DFX VS TRADITIONAL ENGINEERING? Design for Excellence – or DFx – is a complete package addressing PCB fabrication, assembly, and test, as well as component lifecycle and final assembly where applicable. Generally, traditional engineering methods are not centered on the alignment between a product’s design team and its production and supply chain personnel. In contrast, a highly collaborative DFx process brings in different people, talents, and resources to reduce the design challenges inherent to complex devices. For example, incorporating DFx early in the product’s development enables manufacturing partners to simulate a build, see the product footprint, and effectively visualise what the parts look like. All data prior to production is captured, enabling a smart liaison between an OEM and its supporting design teams.
ood products demand more than just good design. Here Design for Excellence, or DFx, plays a critical role. Integral to the mission of improving
While every manufacturer has a different approach to DFx, it’s critical to develop a close working partnership with the end customer’s design teams. Larger CEMs can also call upon expertise found within other areas of its own business to help with any unique design or assembly process requirements. Where mechanical assembly requirements relate to low-volume products, ideal DFx operations seek to simplify assembly, breaking down the build into smaller sub-assemblies – for example, reducing the number of fixing screws, standardising fixing screw size head style and type, etc. High-volume production, for instance, systems for high-performance electric vehicles, may seek to optimise mechanical assembly via robotic support.
ANALYSIS TOOLS HELP EVALUATE AND STREAMLINE DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS DFx analysis is comparable to building a physical prototype in the virtual world. In this Design for Manufacturing (DFM) phase, analysis of a PCB assembly is performed using a tool such as Siemens Digital Industries’ Valor Process Preparation software to simulate component placement and test access. Tools such as Valor Process Preparation seamlessly integrate the entire PCB manufacturing process with one easy-
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to-manage platform, enabling detailed review that reduces the number of design revisions. This process uncovers mismatches between the components selected and the physical shape of that part – something that is particularly difficult to visualise without a simulated product layout. Even components that are ultimately accurate for a design’s purpose and performance come in slightly different package sizes and shapes, which vary depending on their part numbering. Although circuit design may be correct, it is possible and often likely that the parts list used to purchase components from a given distributor may feature an incorrect suffix or prefix. As a result, a slightly different part is ordered and integrated into the real-world, physical prototype. Only then is a problem discovered, causing either a PCB redesign or a pause in the production line while correct parts are ordered and a new prototype is planned and scheduled. At this point in the product development cycle, environmental testing labs may have already been set up to validate product performance. These timelines must also push accordingly. By injecting DFx into the process – comparing parts lists, the actual electronic CAD designs, and creating a virtual product build – manufacturers reduce room for errors and protect time to market. Further, when a CEM’s
Autumn 2023 UKManufacturing
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