Design for assembly methods

Arjav Trivedi
RA1412004010018
M-Tech CIM 1st Semester

Design for Assembly

Product development methodology generally concerned with the customers

satisfaction and quality of the product. The quality can be expressed in many
terms. Quality alone cannot be the factor for successes in the market, other
factors like cost, usability, environmental factors, and others can affect the sales
of the product. In many cases high quality with low cost is major concern. For
that one effective technique of product development is to design for the
assembly. This technique has several methods, we are going to discuss about
these methods in this assignment.
Before that, what does DFA (design for assembly) means? and why it is so
essential? are to be answered. DFA is the technique in which products having
number of components and subassemblies can be produced by designing these
components and subassemblies best suitable for assembly. That is ease with
which these parts can be assembled with optimum cost and in required time.
The later question can be answered by saying that, the sophisticated products
have large number of components and subassemblies. 70 to 80 percent of the
cost of manufacturing is determined in the design phase. A rational design for
easy and low cost assembly is the selection for assembling these parts.

Methods of DFA

Methods are based on ease or difficulty with which parts can be handled and
assembled together into the given product. These methods will follow analytical
procedures, where problems associated with the component design are detected
and quantitatively assessed.
Methods for evaluating an improving product DFA
1. The Boothroyd- Dewhurst DFA method.
2. The Hitachi assembly evaluation method.
3. The Lucas DFA method.
4. The Fujitsu productivity evaluation technique.

The Boothroyd-Dewhurst DFA method :

This method was developed in late 1970s by Prof. Geoffery Boothroyd, at the
University of Massachusset, Amherst in cooperation with Salford University of
England.
The analysis cannot be employed to create a design from nothing but rather, it is
used to evaluate and refine the existing design.
First the appropriate assembly method is selected from the chart.
Then, the analytical method corresponding to assembly method is selected to
use.
Figure shows the stages of Boothroyd- Dewhurst DFA method.

Steps:
There are number of steps for evaluation and refinement.
First step is to determine the assembly sequence.
Obtain the assembly time of each component.
It is calculated by adding the handling time and insertion time required
for each part. Once the assembly time for the components is known the
total assembly time can be calculated by adding them.
Next step is to reduce the part count by eliminating or combining some
parts.
Design efficiency index is used to evaluate the improvement in design in
a quantitative manner given by,
Design efficiency = (3*minimum num. of parts) / total
assembly time.
Design is improved by reviewing and eliminating the components those
have relatively high handling and insertion time.
The process is repeated until an optimum design is obtained.
Boothroyd-Dewhurst proposed a worksheet that shows effective assembly time
and cost:

Disadvantage:
Decreasing the part count could result in manufacturing and use of
complex part, that may cause the final product to be easily assembled but
expensive to manufacture.

The Hitachi assembly evaluation method

Originally this method was used to employ and refine the design for the tape
recorder mechanism in order to develop an automatic assembly system. This
method does not explicitly distinguish between manual and automatic assembly.
The Hitachi AEM approach is based on assessing the assemblability of design
based on two indices.
1. An Assemblability evaluation score (E) is used to assess the design
quality or difficulty of assembly operation.
The procedure to compute E is based on considering the simple
downward motion for inserting a part as the Ideal reference.
For complicated operations, penalty score that depends upon the
complexity and nature of each operation are assigned.
Hitachi method uses symbols to represent operations.
After completing a worksheet penalty score for each part is
manipulated to give assemblability evaluation score for the part.
E values of all parts are combined to get the assemblability evaluation
score for the whole assembly.

2. Estimated assembly cost ratio (K)

It is an indication of assembly cost improvement.
K is the ratio between the assembly cost of new design and
aseembly cost of initial or standard design.

The Lucas DFA method

Unlike above two methods Lucas DFA method is not based on monetary
cost but it gives three indices to measure the difficulty in assembly. The goal
of reducing the part count and analysis of insertion operation are shared with
the above two methods. Analysis is carried in three sequential stages as
shown in assembly sequence flowchart diagram.
1. Functional analysis
2. Feeding (handling) analysis
3. Fitting analysis

1. Functional analysis:
Components are divided into two groups.
Components that perform primary functions are A parts.
Nonessential, B parts that perform only secondary functions like
fastening and locating.
Design efficiency is given by:
Design efficiency = 100 * A / (A+B)
If design efficiency is low, it is improved by eliminating most of the
nonessential parts.
2. Feeding analysis:
This analysis is concerned with problems associated with the handling
of the components (subassemblies) until they are admitted to assembly
system.
Feeding/ handling index is calculated based on size, weight, handling
difficulty, and operation of part.
Feeding and handling ratio can be calculated as:
Feeding ratio = feeding index/ total number of essential parts
An ideal value of this ratio is 2.5.
3. Fitting analysis:
The fitting analysis is divided into number of subsystems like,
groping, insertion and fixing.
An index is given to each part based on fixing requirement, insertion
resistance, and whether or not there will be restricted vision in
assembly.
High index value indicate costly fitting.
Fitting ratio is given as:
Fitting ratio = fitting index / number of essential parts.
Disadvantage:
It does not consider the manufacturing cost, which may lead to costly part.

The Fujitsu productivity evaluation system:

Unlike other DFA methods it is not refinement procedure after completion of

detailed design. Rather it can be described as:
Software package which can be used as a tool to aid in obtaining a
detailed design that is easy to manufacture and assemble with cost
effectiveness.
This method is limited to bench type assembly of relatively small parts. It
consist of four subsystems based upon making full use of expert system
involving practical manufacturing and design data rules of thumb gathered from
experience.

Software address the problem by carrying out rough evaluation followed by

detailed evaluation made concurrently with the product development process.

Figure indicates the procedure for applying the productivity evaluation system
throughout the product development cycle.
1. Assembly sequence specification system:
Designer selects the parts similar to those which will be used in
product and then specifies their assembly sequence.
The system promptly retrieves previously stored values for
assemblability and manufacturability that can be used by the
evaluation subsystem to obtain assembly time and cost.

2. Assemblability evaluation system:

Estimate assembly time and evaluate ease of assembly, based upon
library of subassemblies and their number of essential parts that are
stored by functional module.
Analysis addresses the handling and insertion of parts, specify the
target number of essential part, and identify high cost process and
parts.
Figure shows input and output data

3. Manufacturability evaluation subsystem:

Used as a tool by designer to estimate manufacturing cost and evaluate
manufacturability in quantitative manner.
It can be done in two levels: 1). Rough level, 2). Detailed Analysis.