The results for the case of PCB have demonstrated the
identification of relevant product characteristics and their
impacts on manufacturing processes. This information can
help product developers to reduce lead times and
manufacturing costs. Unfortunately, some component
specifications may be fixed (e.g. the number of layers) and
cannot simply be changes to reduce costs or lead times.
However, over-engineering and unnecessary costs could be
avoided when specifications of a component with less
relevance to its function are adjusted to manufacturing
requirements. Especially for high volume products, efforts to
improve design for manufacturing can be feasible and should
be evaluated.
In this evaluation it seems promising to consider the
dynamic behaviour of manufacturing systems and the effects
on the value streams of jobs. A value stream of one job
depends on all other jobs being currently processed in the
manufacturing system since different jobs use the same
resources and interfere with each other (e.g. by blocking
resources). A simulation approach would allow determining
the value streams of different products and jobs on a factory
system level for a specific period of time. This would further
enable to predict the energy demands from idle and ramp up
states of resources as well as to allocate indirect
consumptions.