The EMPF offers a popular one-day Design for Manufacturability (DFM) training course for design and manufacturing personnel. This course is based on the IPC-2220 series of design documents (“Design Standards for Printed Circuit Boards”). It deals with the attributes of a printed circuit board (PCB) design which determine whether it will be relatively easy or virtually impossible for the factory to build. This course reveals the many issues that can account for this difference.

The EMPF’s DFM course reviews the natural progression of a design from initial concept to final design to production. Within this sequence, the ability to influence product costs related to manufacturability is greatest during the conceptual stage and highly limited after design completion (Figure 2-1). It is critical to apply DFM principles at the earliest possible stage of design before the process builds inertia.

Two primary principles are discussed during the course – Design for Manufacture (DFM) and Design for Assembly (DFA). DFM is defined as design for ease of manufacture of each of the collection of parts that will form the product after assembly. DFA is defined as the design of the product for ease of assembly of the individual parts which were manufactured using the DFM approach. Neither can stand alone. The combination of the two principles is referred to as Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DFMA).

The DFA methodology stressed in the EMPF course is the Boothroyd-Dewhurst method of analysis, which evaluates the producibility of each process step. This is combined with DFM principles to create the DFMA process.
The modern DFMA principles taught in this course have been adopted by major manufacturers worldwide. Specific examples are cited to show classical as well as modern methods used to grapple with the complex problems of product manufacturability. Such an example appears in Figure 2-2, where the classical approach to design (popular in the 1970s) can lead to erroneous conclusions. In this case, the “wrong” part is actually less than half the cost of the “right” part.

In addition to these classical manufacturability concerns, risk management is also dealt with in the course. Risks are quantified by the probability of a failure and the consequences of that failure. Several case studies, “lessons learned”, and risk management tools are explored. Design for Manufacturability is included in the EMPF Boot Camp training program, but it can also be taken
separately. For more information about this EMPF course, please contact the Helpline at (610) 362-1320.

References
1. Geoffrey Boothroyd, Peter Dewhurst, Winston Knight, “Product Design for Manufacture and Assembly,” Copyright 2002, Marcel Dekker Inc., New York, Basel.