WAKEFIELD, RI-was selected by Dynisco (Franklin, MA.), has selected Boothroyd Dewhurst’s Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DFMA) product costing software to improve cross-functional team collaboration and ensure design cost targets are achieved. The DFMA software will allow Dynisco to continue to increase the performance and cost efficiency of its measurement instrumentation products for the plastic, industrial, rubber and composite industries.

With a focus on customer satisfaction, the company first explored DFMA in redesign workshops as part of Dynisco’s Continuous Improvement initiative. Various products from the different Dynisco companies were analyzed as part of those training events. What the company discovered was a much better collaboration between the cross-functional teams when reviewing designs, as well as an increase in the number of new ideas and improvements generated.

“We determined that the DFMA software provided a very structured, time-savings approach for us,” says Kevin Dailida, Director of Product and Process Improvement at Dynisco. “Our cross-functional teams are now using Design for Assembly [DFA] to evaluate early prototypes while also establishing a framework for the future process flow. Additionally, we are using Design for Manufacture [DFM] to benchmark ‘should cost’ estimates against supplier quotes in order to ensure that bids are in line with design cost targets.”

DFMA software is a combination of two complementary analysis tools: Engineers use DFA software to assess the structural efficiency of their products and then reduce the assembly cost by consolidating individual parts into elegant, multifunctional designs. DFM software allows developers to examine competing material and process choices and quickly judge the cost trade-offs of producing new designs against the original assembly.