Design for Manufacturing - Guidelines
Design for Manufacturing (DFM) and design for assembly (DFA) are the integration of product design
and process planning into one common activity. The goal is to design a product that is easily and economically
manufactured. The importance of designing for manufacturing is underlined by the fact that about 70% of
manufacturing costs of a product (cost of materials, processing, and assembly) are determined by design
decisions, with production decisions (such as process planning or machine tool selection) responsible for only
20%.
The heart of any design for manufacturing system is a group of design principles or guidelines that are
structured to help the designer reduce the cost and difficulty of manufacturing an item. The following is a listing
of these rules.1