Practical steps to reduce total cost of ownership: DfM is an umbrella term under which several concepts--and significant cost-savings--reside.

Ed: For the full article, please see circuitsassembly.com/cms/content/view/4151

A startling statistic shows the need for design for repair: Up to 50% of units returned for repair are not faulty. Several conditions can cause this waste of time and resources. But where many companies commonly err is by failing to select a manufacturing partner or bring an EMS company into the process until a new product is ready for volume production.

DfR is just one of six elements of design for manufacturing (DfM). All six support the argument that there are value and benefits to working with an EMS company early in the design cycle.

The product lifecycle consists of three stages: research and development, volume manufacturing and post-manufacturing. The R & D stage consists of creating the design, determining the bill of materials, developing the recipe to manufacture that design, and giving that input to a contract manufacturer for volume manufacturing. Little collaboration occurs between the R & D team and the contract manufacturer. Therefore, some elements of design for manufacturing (DfM) often are omitted from the product lifecycle.

A simple definition of DfM is "examining the long-term impact of decisions made during the design of a product." Companies can profit if early in the product lifecycle they examine the elements that comprise DfM and how they affect product cost. Let's look at the six elements of DfM in greater detail.

1. Design for sourcing. Most products used to be designed and manufactured within the same company. Communication between production personnel and design engineers was relatively easy. Indeed, it might be said that this interaction produced a rudimentary form of DfM in the product lifecycle. With the growth of outsourcing, design engineers have fewer opportunities to interact with the manufacturing team. Purchasing departments are separate and not coordinated. An engineer or buyer at the R & D stage might decide to purchase a component based solely on whether the component meets the desired specifications and how quickly it can be obtained. These are reasonable parameters for building small numbers of products, but volume manufacturing requires other considerations.

Sourcing involves answering questions about what to buy, where to buy, how much to buy and when to buy. An EMS company knows the suppliers. It knows which ones can produce the quantities needed and deliver them on time to the multiple locations in which the product might be built.

Ed.: This column was first published in the Dallas Basestation Conference e-newsletter in June 2006 and is reprinted here with permission from the author.

Petra Ebner is director of business development at Elcoteq SE (elcoteq.com).