THE FEDERAL UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, AKURE

P.M.B. 704, ONDO STATE, NIGERIA.

A REPORT ON

THE ANALYSIS AND REDESIGNING OF AN ELECTRIC IRON

WRITTEN BY

ADEMIKANRA ADESOLA DAVID

(MEE/18/6919)
SUBMITTED

TO

PROF. T.I. OGEDENGBE

THE DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING, SCHOOL OF

ENGINEERING AND ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY,

IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE AWARD OF

BACHELOR OF ENGINEERING (B. ENG.) DEGREE IN MECHANICAL

ENGINEERING.

APRIL, 2024.
 TABLE OF CONTENT

LIST OF FIGURES …………………………………………………………….………………. 2

LIST OF TABLES ……………………………………………………………….……………... 3

ABSTRACT …………………………………………………………………………………….. 4

CHAPTER ONE …………………………………………………………………………….….. 5

1.0. INTRODUCTION ………………………………………………………….……………..… 5

1.1. ELECTRIC IRON …………………………………………………………………………... 6

1.2. THE DESIGN STRUCTURE OF AN ELECTRIC IRON ……………………………….…. 7

1.3. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ………………………………………………………………..... 9

CHAPTER TWO ……………………………………………………………………………… 10

2.0. LITERATURE REVIEW ………………………………………………………………….. 10

CHAPTER THREE ………………………………………………………………………….... 12

3.0. METHODOLOGY ……………………………………………………………………….... 12

3.1. ANALYSIS OF CURRENT DESIGN AND PARTS OF AN ELECTRIC IRON ………... 12

3.2. IDENTIFICATION OF PRODUCT COMPONENT DEVELOPMENT …………………. 13

3.3. DESIGN EFFICIENCY AND ASSEMBLY TIME ………………….……………………. 14

CHAPTER FOUR …………………………………………………………………………….. 15

4.0. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ………………………………………………………….... 15

4.1. DISCUSSION …………………………………………………………………………….... 16

CHAPTER FIVE …………………………………………………………………………….... 18

5.0. CONCLUSION ……………………………………………………………………………. 18

REFERENCES ………………………………………………………………………………... 19

1
 LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1.0: ELECTRIC IRON ………………………………………………………………….... 7

Figure 4.0: PROPOSED FINAL DESIGN ……………………………………………………… 15

2
 LIST OF TABLES

Table 1.0: THE ELECTRIC IRON ORIGINAL PRODUCT DESIGN ……………….……….... 8

Table 3.0: PRODUCT CONSTITUENT COMPONENTS …..………………………………… 12

Table 3.1: IDENTIFICATION OF PRODUCT COMPONENT DEVELOPMENT …………. 13

Table 4.0: COMPARISON OF DESIGN EFFICIENCY AND ASSEMBLY TIME …………. 14

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 ABSTRACT

Reducing the amount of time and money required for design assembly is one of the reasons that

product development is so crucial these days to stay competitive in the market. The analysis of

iron items sold on the market is covered in this article. This iron requires a lot of time to construct

due to its intricate design and numerous components, which are a result of issues identified in

SMEs providing electronic services. Thus, this article's goal is to revamp the ironing.

The issues with this product serve as the foundation for improvements in iron product design. By

giving out surveys to SMEs in the electronic services sector, this issue is discovered. The Design

for Assembly (DFA) approach is used to assess the design in terms of ease of assembly procedures

in order to carry out the modifications.

The DFA approach is used to assess the issues and concerns that the electronic services SMEs

have, which provide as the basis for iron design changes. Thus, the rear cover and the handle—

the two parts of the ironing product—have both undergone design modifications.

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CHAPTER ONE

1.0. INTRODUCTION

Manufacturing businesses may now thrive in a cutthroat industry thanks to technological

advancements. Creating innovative items with minimal design time and expense is one way.

Product development can be carried out by enhancing the features or designs of current items to

raise the standard of the final product. New products are usually created by improving the

functionality and design of existing ones by altering their components and requirements to save

design time and costs and boost product quality. Since the first industrial revolution, there have

been many improvements to the manufacturing sector, ranging from shop floor operations to

design creation. The management of waste, cost reduction, and remanufacturing are among these

modifications that are addressed by Design for Manufacturing and Design for

Assembly/Disassembly.

Designers' jobs are made easier with the recent development of DFX technology. In DFX, the

letter "X" denotes either a particular stage of the product's life cycle (such as assembly or

manufacturing) or a set of expected features. Effective DFA methods are widely accepted and

regularly used in many significant industries. More benefits than just expediting assembly are

provided by DFA, which encourages reducing manufacturing costs.

DFA has a significant impact on product design by lowering the cost of production and assembly.

According to the authors, the main objective of the conceptual DFA technique is to save assembly

costs and time by reducing the number of components before developing a complete product

model. Nevertheless, aspects of manufacturability like as material selection or the most effective

technique for producing parts and components are not considered in the conceptual DFA.

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The design stage of product development is a drawn-out, iterative procedure for some products.

Four main phases can be used to group activities during the design stage: problem description,

client needs analysis, conceptual design, embodiment design, and detailed design. Gathering and

analyzing consumer needs, translating those needs into features and functionalities of the product,

and creating and modeling concepts that meet requirements are the crucial first stages.

The DFA method's suggested approach in this situation considers the needs of the customers. Here,

SMEs that provide electronic services are the target market. The challenges encountered during

the product assembly process serve as the basis for design enhancements. Cloth creases can be

removed with an iron, or a little tool. There are other names for it, such as smoothing, flat, or

clothes irons.

Today's electrical ironing has a number of features, including wire control, thermostats, power

cords, and energy-saving controls. Still, sometimes these features are not needed as they will

accommodate more parts, thus increasing cost and production time. This research aims to obtain a

product design that can minimize the time and cost of the iron assembly.

1.1. ELECTRIC IRON

An electric iron is mostly used to press and apply heat to remove wrinkles and creases from fabric

as regards home applications. It usually has a handle for convenience of usage and a flat metal

sole-plate that is heated electrically. Typically, the sole-plate is composed of materials like

ceramic, stainless steel, or non-stick coating to guarantee a smooth glide on textiles.

The temperature settings of modern irons are frequently programmable to suit various fabric kinds,

guaranteeing secure and efficient ironing without causing material damage. To help remove

persistent wrinkles, some irons additionally have steam features that spray or discharge water as

6
steam. With the introduction of novel features like automated shut-off for safety and cordless

models for greater mobility and convenience, the design of irons has changed over time. In many

homes and companies, irons are indispensable tools because they help preserve the appearance of

garments and other fabric goods. To better understand the ingenuity and versatility of irons, we

will examine their functions, types, characteristics, and factors to consider while making a

decision. We will also look at how irons affect current lifestyles.

Fig 1.0: An electric iron

1.2. THE DESIGN STRUCTURE OF AN ELECTRIC IRON

The electric ironing product consists of 26 pieces with 12 different sorts of components according

to the present design. There are 26 tasks in the product assembly work elements, and the assembly

time is the total. Table 1.0 shows the original product design as well as the details of the iron

component specs.

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No. Component Amount Material Picture

Soleplate and
1 1 Steel
thermostat

2
Temperature light 1 Glass

3
Dial connection 1 Steel
4
U-metal gasket 1 Steel

5
Valve 1 Steel

6
Cowling 1 Plastic

7
Bracket 3 Steel
8
Electrical flex
1 Thermoplastic
and connection

Handle section 1 Plastic

10
Temperature dial 1 Plastic
11

Back cover 1 Plastic

12
Bolt 13 Steel

Table 1.0: The electric iron original product design

8
1.3. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

This report aims to analyze and obtain a product design that can minimize the time and cost of the

iron assembly. In general, the DFA application has the following objectives:

i. Ascertain the minimum number of components as possible

ii. Optimise the assembly capabilities or feasibility of each component

iii. Optimize the component and assembly capabilities

iv. Improve quality, improve efficiency, and reduce assembly.

9
CHAPTER TWO

2.0. LITERATURE REVIEW

DFA is a method for tracking expenses, time, and assembly processes during the product design

stage that was developed by Boothroyd and Dewhurst. The Design for assembling (DFA)

methodology provides designers with a way of thinking and guidelines for designing products that

are advantageous to the assembling process. DFA proposes a systematic way to maximize the use

of the same parts and identify the main assembly-time limiting solutions. The B&D methodology,

along with the Westinghouse, Lucas, and Hitachi-AEM approaches, is one of the DFA approaches

that is most frequently employed in industrial practice.

Massimo Makovac and Peter Butala state that one of the engineering qualities that needs to be

taken into account when designing is DFA. It is highly prioritized due to its potential for cost

reduction. The best overall solution must be provided by the compromise found in the final design.

DFA can be applied in the early phases of development because it is generic in nature.

By developing and analyzing a table fan, Wee Soon Chai and Azli Nawawi employed this

technique to cut down on the number of parts and lower the product's cost. The DFA worksheet

was used to analyze following the Boothroyd Dewhurst approach. Because of this, the new table

fan design was made with fewer parts, resulting in a shorter assembly run time and lower assembly

costs. There is an increase in the changed design's design efficiency. Between the newly changed

table fan design and the original design, there was an improvement in design efficiency as well as

a significant decrease in running expenses and installation time to improve operational time and

cost by using fewer spare components.

Mohd Nazri Ahmad discovered that Design for Assembly (DFA) is a systematic analysis process

to minimize product assembly costs and facilitate assembly by improving product design.
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DFA was embraced by N. Hazwani Razak, M.S.M. Effendi, and Muhamad Farizuan Rosli as an

industrial tool to lower assembly costs by streamlining the installation procedure and lowering the

need for spare parts. To minimize the quantity of product components, they also modified the

printer injector product. This is accomplished by using the software tool to evaluate specific

assembly parts to decrease parts and by redesigning the product using the DFA method. The design

was improved, which resulted in lower assembly costs. The DFA approach can eventually be used

to determine the complexity of the product and the ease of assembly, as well as to lower the cost

of assembly, the number of components, and the installation time. The cost of the finished product

is significantly impacted by lowering the cost of spare parts.

Employing the four most popular approaches, Ezpeleta et al. offer a DFA technique that takes into

account a product's assembly process throughout all of its development activities. DFA enables

the design of basic products and parts to hold, feed, combine, and assemble either manually or

automatically. It targets the identification of concepts for items that are inherently simple to put

together.

To redesign food processing products for the market, Akshay Harlalka et al. created a case study

utilizing the DFMA technique. Using DFMA research, the authors of this paper identify a number

of potentials for cost reduction in food processor design, allowing for the development of design

concepts that will lower the product's overall production costs.

This procedure guarantees quick, inexpensive, and efficient part installation. All phases of the

design process should be taken into consideration, but the early ones are particularly important

since they have several advantages, such as lowering the amount of product assembly needed,

lowering manufacturing costs, and raising quality and productivity.

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 CHAPTER THREE

3.0. METHODOLOGY

3.1. ANALYSIS OF CURRENT DESIGN AND PARTS OF AN ELECTRIC IRON.

The ironing product consists of 26 pieces with 12 different sorts of components according to the

present design. There are 26 tasks in the product assembly work elements, and the assembly time

is the total. Table 1.0 presents the product's basic design as well as the iron component specs.

Based on the assembly issues that Electronics Services SMEs discovered, an improved design was

created. It is possible to create an assembly process by making things easier to assemble,

standardizing or lowering the number of components, and ensuring that the materials are identical.

One can create an assembly process by making things simpler or using fewer parts, standardizing

materials, ensuring that the materials are homogeneous, and creating designs that make assembly

easier. Table 3.0 displays the product constituent components that were produced for the iron.

Component Assembly
No. Component Illustration
function problem

Cover the back of The bolt hole is

1 Back cover
the iron too deep

Using too many

As part of the iron
2 Handle section fasteners takes
handle
time to assemble

Table 3.0: Product constituent components

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 3.2. IDENTIFICATION OF PRODUCT COMPONENT DEVELOPMENT

A few design principles that need to be adhered to to enhance the assembly process are as follows:

minimizing flexible and interdependent components, designing for convenience, standardizing and

using components with uniform materials, and simplifying and reducing the number of

components. The assembly minimizes the number of assemblies axes and employs straightforward

movement patterns. It is intended for modular product design for assembly and integrated,

effective fastening. Using the Design for Assembly (DFA) process, design changes are produced

based on these concepts. Using DFA, design enhancements can be achieved by developing new

components, joining existing ones, or removing ones that are not needed. Table 3.1 displays the

identification of product component development.

No. Component Illustration Improvement

1. Back cover
On the back cover component, the bolt hole is shortened
to facilitate the placement. Then also added a hole in the
back cover component to facilitate the movement of the
cable. Then, the lifting part of the vertical rope can be
eliminated.

Handle
2.
section

Table 3.1: Identification of product component development

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3.3. DESIGN EFFICIENCY AND ASSEMBLY TIME

Design efficiency describes the comparison between the estimated assembly time of the redesigned

product and the ideal time of the previous product's assembly. The ideal time is obtained, assuming

each component is easy to operate and assemble. The assembly time used in the case of this report

is assumed. The formula for calculating the design efficiency is shown below:

𝐍𝐦𝐢𝐧 × 𝐓𝐚
Ema =
𝐓𝐦𝐚

where Nmin: theoretical minimum amount,

Tma
Ta: basic assembly time for one part, calculated by Ta = ,
Tm

Tma: estimated time to complete product assembly,

Tm: number of components.

a. The current product design: The calculation of the initial design efficiency is known as the

number of components (NM), which is 26 units, and the total manual installation time (TM) is

358,16 seconds. Therefore, using the above formula, the initial design efficiency value is 21.77%.

b. The proposed product design: The calculation of the design efficiency as a result of the design

shows that the number of components (NM) is 22 units and the total manual assembly time (TM)

is 269,7 seconds. Therefore, using the above formula, the initial design efficiency value is 24.74%.

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CHAPTER FOUR

4.0. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The optimal design can be chosen by contrasting the installation costs of the present design with

the suggested design, as well as the degree of design efficiency. The recapitulation of

improvements in design efficiency and assembly is presented in Table 4.0.

COMPARISON OF DESIGN EFFICIENCY AND ASSEMBLY TIME

Design Parts number Assembly time, s Efficiency, %

Current design 26 358.16 21.77

Proposed design 22 269.70 24.77

Table 4.0: Comparison of design efficiency and assembly time

Based on the table above, it can be seen that the improved design has higher design efficiency,

lower installation time, and lower installation cost as shown in Fig 4.0 below.

Current design Proposed design

Fig 4.0: Proposed final design

15
4.1. DISCUSSION

The back cover and the handle portion are the two components whose designs are improved upon

in this article. To improve the back cover component and remove the vertical cord lift section, the

bolthole size is changed and additional holes are added to the component to allow for easier cable

movement. To make the assembly process easier, the handle part's components are changed out

for a bolt with a sliding switch. This allows for the removal of one bolt component and the

replacement of two bolts using the snap-fit technique.

Table 4.0 presents a comparative analysis of assembly times, installation costs, and design

efficiencies between the current and updated products. For the changed products, there are now 22

spare parts overall instead of the previous 26 for the current models. This shows a total reduction

in comparison to the modified product's existing output of four components.

In the meantime, the redesigned product's assembly time dropped from 358.16 seconds to 269.70

seconds. The percentage difference in the assembly's operating time between the suggested and

actual designs is shown in these results. This suggests that compared to the current design, the

product improvement design will save more time and require less time to assemble. This resulted

to an increase of 24.7%.

Furthermore, the purpose of computing the design efficiency metrics and the assembly time was

to determine whether the suggested design may yield any improvements. One way to gauge design

efficiency is through the design's efficacy. The better the design, the more efficient it is. The

notion of the number of spare components, the time it takes to assemble spare parts, and the number

of parts is used to calculate design efficiency for product development. Each iron product is made

up of various elements or components, which affect the assembly time and cost.

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Design efficiency is a measure of better product design as opposed to assembly time and cost.

Table 4.0 indicates that the design efficiency of the suggested design has grown from 21.77% to

24.77%. The proposed design outperforms the current one in terms of design efficiency, meaning

there are less unnecessary parts and assembly-processing complexities. Several benefits of

utilizing the DFA method to enhance the iron design utilized in this investigation include the

following:

a. Minimize the amount of reorientation during assembly

b. Reduce rework

c. Improve serviceability

d. Lower the budget

e. Optimize the quantity and types of spare parts

f. Remove the requirement for adjustment

g. Easily adjustable

h. Reduce the number of tools needed

17
CHAPTER FIVE

5.0. CONCLUSION

The vertical cable's lifting portion was eliminated by DFA improvement on the back cover and

grip sections by enlarging the bolthole and adding holes to the components for simple cable

movement. To streamline the assembly process, the handle component is swapped out for a bolt

that has a sliding switch and is designed to be snap-fit. The reduction in assembly time from 358.16

to 269.7 seconds and the increase in design efficiency from 21.77% to 24.77% were brought about

by the iron design changes.

Manufacturers can save costs, reduce lead times, and increase overall production efficiency by

standardizing components, cutting the number of components, and optimizing manufacturing

processes. More consistency, dependability, and customer satisfaction are the outcomes of the

streamlined assembly processes and improved quality control procedures.

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