Marketing, product design and assembly systems

The principal goal of an integrated circuit DFM (design for manufacturing) initiative is to insure arrival at electrical circuit designs and packaged IC components which are inherently producible within the manufacturing environment. In order to achieve this objective the component design must, from early in the product concept phase, incorporate a full range of manufacturing production constraints and considerations. DFM not only implies designing for physical product fabrication but also must include design for testability, design for assembly or packaging, design for reliability and integration, and networking of all these areas. The key to the success of a DFM program lies in increased accuracy in the modeling of the process and product designs, product simulations, and effective manufacturing feedback of key parametric data. Factory fabrication efficiency increases as the design accuracy and tolerances increase. Statistically valid models, extracted from and representative of the controlled process, can be fed back to product designers via advanced CAD/CAM/CAE integrated systems, thus reducing design cycle times by limiting the design space to be explored in order to achieve a predetermined product yield.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

The vertical lunchbox (VL) project, propose an innovative and functional solution for movement. Traditional lunchboxes often fail to meet the diverse needs of today’s consumers, including the desire for convenience, portability, and meal freshness. This project uses the advantages of additive manufacturing to create a lunchbox that not only offers practicality and usability but also incorporates distinctive features tailored to present lifestyles. The design process employs a concept of Design for Additive Manufacturing (DfAM) and Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DfMA) principles. These concepts enable the development of required features and at the same time reducing assembly time and improve the functionality. Important features of the vertical lunchbox include customizable compartments that can accommodate ice packs, the lid that can be used as a handphone holder, and removable containers for easy cleaning. These features are catering to the needs of busy professionals and students. Parametric modeling and topological optimization helped to ensure that the lunchbox design is appealing and at the same time lightweight and strong. The adoption of 3D printing technology enabled faster production processes with required dimensional accuracy. Test results indicate that the vertical lunchbox meets most of the user requirements. The important features such as a secured locking and snap-fit lid design ensured the reliable transport containers for carrying food. In Addition, the project proved that additive manufacturing can be used for time to market approach of the product development. Finally, the vertical lunchbox project demonstrates how advanced manufacturing techniques can transform traditional product design to meet modern consumer needs.

ABSTRACT: Medical device manufacturing is increasingly challenged by complex design requirements, stringent regulatory frameworks, and the need for cost-efficient production. Two established methodologies—Design for Manufacturability (DfM) and Quality by Design (QbD)—offer complementary approaches to addressing these challenges. DfM emphasizes optimizing product designs for efficient, scalable, and cost-effective production, while QbD provides a systematic, risk-based approach to embedding quality, safety, and regulatory compliance throughout the development process. Despite their strengths, these methodologies are often applied independently, which limits their potential to transform medical device innovation. This research proposes a synergistic framework that integrates DfM and QbD to optimize product development in medical device manufacturing. The framework is developed through a structured analysis of literature and regulatory practices, mapping the overlap of DfM and QbD within the stage-gate development process. The results highlight that combining these methodologies reduces time-to-market, lowers defect rates, improves compliance with international standards, and enhances human factors engineering. The integration further supports advanced manufacturing techniques such as additive manufacturing, immersive technologies, and combination products. The contributions of this research are threefold. Theoretically, it advances systems-thinking approaches by uniting design efficiency with risk-based quality assurance. Practically, it provides medical device manufacturers with a roadmap for balancing cost efficiency, compliance, and patient safety. From a regulatory perspective, it offers guidance on harmonizing design and quality frameworks across global markets. Ultimately, the integration of DfM and QbD is positioned not only as a best practice but as a strategic imperative for driving sustainable innovation in medical device manufacturing.

Design for Manufacturability (DfM) improves semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) yield by optimizing product design or layout. Positive impact of DfM on yield can be realized at production time (e.g., parametric yield), at the end of production (e.g., functional yield), or in the field (e.g., reliability yield). Patents issued in 2007-2008 timeframe enhance DfM in all these domains. In this paper, we review examples of DfM patent coverage starting from the new correct-by-construction layout concepts for single cells, extending into multi-cell intellectual property (IP) and mask level. Another DfM patent family proposes new design verification techniques by which the manufacturing delivers feedback to design/layout e.g., to remove local yield limiters (hot spots). The new concepts involve EDA algorithms, computer programs, and design kits, which help optimize the DfM related modifications of the layout. A number of patents improve the way design or layout corrected by DfM is verified by inspection or simulation, before a mask set is built. They also address DfM data collection, storage, and transfer to improve communication and cross-fab compatibility, when the same mask set is delivered to different manufacturers or comes from different design houses, with important aspects of data protection and cost reduction.

Automation and robots are frequently mentioned as solutions to industrywide problems of increasing costs, declining productivity, skilled‐labor short‐ages, safety, and quality control. Despite numerous attempts to develop automation and robotics for construction field operations, few practical applications can be found on construction sites today. The promises of robotics remain unfulfilled, and attempts to transfer automation technology from manufacturing have not been optimal. Identification of opportunities for automation requires analysis of construction work at the appropriate level. This paper presents a hierarchical taxonomy that divides construction field operations into several levels. The basic‐task level is the appropriate level for construction automation. The paper presents a set of basic tasks that describe construction field work. Construction is compared to highly repetitive manufacturing operations to gain insight into the relationships among product design, process design, and fabrication. In manufacturing, product and process design are closely interrelated. In construction, process design is completely separate from product design, but is intimately related to fabrication. Until construction product and process design become more highly integrated, automation must occur at the basic‐task level. Advances in construction automation will continue to be characterized by a machine performing physically intensive basic tasks, operated by a human craftsperson performing the information‐intensive basic tasks.

In the light of growing global competition, organizations around the world today are constantly under pressure to produce high-quality products at an economical price. The integration of design and manufacturing activities into one common engineering effort has been recognized as a key strategy for survival and growth. Design for manufacturability (DFM) requires product designers to simultaneously consider the manufacturing issues of a product along with the geometrical and design aspects. In this paper, part manufacturability was analyzed in detail. An evaluation system of DFM was proposed. Product design can be guided according to feedback information by evaluating the part manufacturability.

PurposeThere are three distinct functions in the product realisation chain (product design, process design, and process execution) and thus there are two interfaces (product design – process design; process design – process execution) rather than one (product – manufacturing). This fact supports a need to shift from dyadic relationships to triadic relationships and from the traditionally single interface concept of design for manufacture (DFM) to multiple “design for” elements. This study seeks to discuss this issue.Design/methodology/approachThrough an in – depth case study in an electronics plant and qualitative data analysis, we reveal the existence and functions of these “design for” elements are revealed, and also the link between the implementation of these elements to the levels of process engineering capability.FindingsProactive and capable process engineering allows improvement of technical coordination among functions. This enables the “design for” mechanisms for both upstream elements (product design) and downstream elements (process execution); this has a positive impact on the performance of product realisation (especially time to market) and thus operational competitiveness.Research limitations/implicationsSince this is a single case study, future empirical research with larger sample sizes should provide further validation of these findings and demonstrate better generalisability of developed concepts.Practical implicationsThis paper highlights several initiatives, conceptually linked to the appropriate “design for” elements, which may be applied in manufacturing settings to support product realisation objectives. Process design, as a significant and proactive intermediate component, should be given sufficient attention and investment.Originality/valueThe study expands the existing DFM concept to several new “design for” concepts and discusses some implementation‐related issues.

Design for Manufacturing, Assembly, and Disassembly is important in today’s production systems because if this aspect is not considered, it could lead to inefficient operations and excessive material usage, both of which have a significant impact on manufacturing cost and time. Attention to this topic is important in achieving the target standards of Industry 4.0 which is inclusive of material utilisation, manufacturing operations, machine utilisation, features selection of the products, and development of suitable interfaces with information communication technologies (ICT) and other evolving technologies. Design for manufacturing (DFM) and Design for Assembly (DFA) have been around since the 1980’s for rectifying and overcoming the difficulties and waste related to the manufacturing as well as assembly at the design stage. Furthermore, this domain includes a decision support system and knowledge base with manufacturing and design guidelines following the adoption of ICT. With this in mind, ‘Design for manufacturing and assembly/disassembly: Joint design of products and production systems’, a special issue has been conceived and its contents are elaborated in detail. In this paper, a background of the topics pertaining to DFM, DFA and related topics seen in today’s manufacturing systems are discussed. The accepted papers of this issue are categorised in multiple sections and their significant features are outlined.

Design Based Metrology (DBM) implements a novel automation flow, which allows for a direct and traceable correspondence to be established between selected locations in product designs and matching metrology locations on silicon wafers. Thus DBM constitutes the fundamental enabler of Design For Manufacturability (DFM), because of its intrinsic ability to characterize and quantify the discrepancy between design layout intent and actual patterns on silicon. The evolution of the CDSEM into a DFM tool, capable of measuring thousands of unique sites, includes 3 essential functionalities: (1) seamless integration with design layout and locations coordinate system; (2) new design-based pattern recognition and (3) fully automated recipe generation. Additionally advanced SEM metrology algorithms are required for complex 2-dimensional features, Line-Edge-Roughness (LER), etc. In this paper, we consider the overall DBM flow, its integration with traditional CDSEM metrology and the state-of-the-art in recipe automation success. We also investigate advanced DFM applications, specifically enabled by DBM, particularly for OPC model calibration and verification, design-driven RET development and parametric Design Rule evaluation and selection.

This paper gives an overview of research that is expanding the domain of design for manufacturing (DFM) into new and important areas. DFM and assembly is widely used in industry, especially in product design and development process. to meet customer needs, companies are struggling with competitive markets to produce low cost products with high quality and faster to market. It becomes an important concept as the best time to find cost reductions, at design stage, rather than during manufacturing. The paper concludes with some general guidelines that suggest how manufacturing firms can develop useful, effective DFM. Overall goal with the paper is to aid designers, manufacturers, process planners in the practical industries on the ground and researchers in the mentioned area of study.

The concept of concurrent engineering (CE) has changed the traditional process of design to an integrated process, comprising all aspects of design, manufacturing, costing, process control etc. In composite product development, CE is adopted to enhance quality, to reduce time of production, and to reduce cost. There have been several models that consider design for minimal weight, design for cost, design for quality, design for manufacture, design for reliability, design for metal inserts, design for environment etc., separately for composite product development. In the present paper, we apply the graph theoretic approach to DFX analysis methodology for design of composite products. The DFX methodology is new to composite design, and is applied to study the various DFX components, like design for cost (DFC), design for manufacture (DFM), and design for minimal weight (DFMW), simultaneously. In this study, an example for development of fiber reinforced polymer composite (FRP) drive shafts is taken up. Several material combinations like E-glass/epoxy, E-glass/polyester, and HM-carbon/epoxy composite materials are compared in light of their performance with conventional steel material. The concurrent graph theoretic approach with a permanent function is used to account for the interdependencies existing among the design parameters in studying DFMW, DFM, and DFC.

The Design for Manufacturability (DFM) Process is the most critical process in determining if a particular product will achieve its quality, cost, performance, and time to market goals. With the increasing trends to outsource the assembly of electronic products, the gap between the product development organization and the product manufacturing organization is continuing to increase both geographically and organizationally. Design for Manufacturability must include a detailed understanding of the processes that will be used to build the product, how the processes are developed, how the processes are controlled, and how continuous improvement is accomplished. The vast majority of electronic product development companies practice some form of DFM. The organizations with good design for manufacturability systems understand that manufacturing issues must be considered as early in the product design process as possible. Although it is generally agreed that DFM is critical to an optimized product development process there is no universal agreement on the definition of DFM, the approach, procedures, and methods used, and exactly what the key factors of a DFM system are. All product development organizations use sophisticated computer aided design (CAD) tools to design their products. These tools have the capability to insure most of the “nuts and bolts” design rules and guidelines are adhered too. Factors such as component pad size, component spacing, board edge clearance, fidcuial size number and location, etc. are built into the CAD design tool. These factors are critical to the manufacturability of a printed circuit board design. However, DFM is much more than insuring the printed circuit board design rules are obeyed. This paper will attempt to define Design for Manufacturability and discuss several of the key factors in the DFM Process

The present study explores the phenomenon of remixing in product design for additive manufacturing (AM). In contrast to other manufacturing techniques, AM offers unprecedented flexibility in adapting existing product designs to changing requirements. However, in order to benefit from this potential, structured design procedures and tools are indispensable. As a possible solution, online platforms for collaborative 3D model creation are increasingly implementing features for remixing, a concept describing the creation of new models on the foundation of existing design elements. Against this backdrop, the objective of this research is to provide evidence for the value of remixing as an organizational intervention for improving product design processes. To this end, we present a mixed methods approach using data from Thingiverse, the world's largest AM‐related online community. In a first step, we investigate qualitative data from 81 individual remix‐based designs to identify the underlying mechanisms of remixing. We identify six such mechanisms that can further be grouped by the intended outcome of the respective process (creativity‐oriented: inspiration, play, learning;productivity‐oriented: speed, improvement, empowerment). In a second step, we turn to a quantitative analysis of platform data, which indicates that remixing may lead to better design process outcomes in terms of quantity and diversity of designs. Furthermore, we find that designs created by remixing designers are significantly more often printed by community members suggesting that remixing helps ensure manufacturing compatibility akin to continuous process improvement. Our research has several implications for individual designers and organizations engaging with product design for AM.

An integrated graphical user interface (GUI) for concurrent engineering design of mechanical parts

The New Product Development (NPD) is a series of processes that go through several stages beginning with an initial product concept or idea that is evaluated, developed, tested and launched on the market. NPD is a very important process for the company so that the products can be well received by consumers with a cost effective and faster time to market. Many concepts in NPD have been studied previously starting from the concept of User Centered System Design, Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DFMA), Make or Buy Analysis, and Supplier Integration as well as new concepts in the form of collaborative product design. However, To the authors' knowledge, there is limited published literature which has comprehensively integrated these several concepts. The purpose of this paper is to conduct a critical review of the existing body of knowledge from Collaborative Product Design by linking to the concepts of DFMA, User Centered System Design, Make or Buy Analysis, and Supplier Integration. Literature review of manually selected papers based on topic relevance is used to see existing research on each of these topic. Each topic is then carried out a critical review related to the strengths and weaknesses of the each. The findings of this study can facilitate the understanding of status quo and future research direction or a roadmap to achieve New Product Design cost effective and time to market by integrating collaborative product design with User Centered Design, DFMA, Make or Buy Analysis, and Supplier Integration.