Program Overview
This program equips engineering and cross-functional teams with practical and strategic approaches to Design for Excellence (DFX)—a methodology that integrates Design for Manufacturing (DFM), Assembly (DFA), Cost (DFC), Reliability (DFR), Serviceability (DFS), and Testability (DFT) early in the product development cycle. Delivered by an industry expert with 25+ years of experience, the course blends conceptual frameworks, real-world aerospace and automotive case studies, and hands-on simulations. It empowers participants to build smarter products that meet performance goals, reduce lifecycle costs, and minimize late-stage rework—thereby accelerating time-to-market and improving customer value.
Features
- Understand and apply DFX principles to design cost-effective, high-quality products
- Identify design-phase decisions that impact manufacturing, reliability, and service
- Use cross-functional thinking to optimize performance, cost, and time-to-market
- Analyze real-life case studies and simulate product design trade-offs
Target audiences
- Design Engineers
- Manufacturing Engineers, Quality & Reliability Engineers
- Program Managers
- R&D Professionals
Curriculum
- 8 Sections
- 46 Lessons
- 2 Days
Expand all sectionsCollapse all sections
- Introduction to Design for Excellence (DFX)6
- 1.1What is DFX? Understanding DFMARST (Manufacturing, Assembly, Reliability, Serviceability, Testability)
- 1.2Benefits: Cost Reduction, Time to Market, Quality Improvement
- 1.3Why DFX is a strategic advantage in competitive industries
- 1.4Real-Life Examples: Aerospace, Automotive & Consumer Electronics case studies
- 1.5Real-Life Examples: Early DFX implementation vs. reactive redesign cost curves
- 1.6Group Discussion: “What failures have you seen due to lack of DFX in your products?”
- Design for Manufacturing (DFM)7
- 2.1Principles: Simplification, Modularity, Standardization, Tolerance, Material Choice
- 2.2Early design involvement and manufacturability checks
- 2.3DFM in scaling automotive vs. aerospace production
- 2.4Cost impact of overdesign and underdesign
- 2.5Example: Modular design in aircraft and vehicle manufacturing
- 2.6Example: Design simplification to avoid secondary operations
- 2.7Process Mapping Simulation: Redesign an existing part with DFM principles
- Design for Assembly (DFA)7
- 3.1Principles: Reduce part count, symmetry, mistake-proofing (Poka Yoke), self-fastening
- 3.2Top-down assembly planning
- 3.3Ease of assembly in high-mix/low-volume production
- 3.4Impact of poor DFA on throughput and quality
- 3.5Example: Consumer electronics vs. industrial assemblies
- 3.6Example: Modular assembly lines and labor cost reduction
- 3.7Activity: Component Re-Engineering: Apply DFA to improve an assembly process
- Design for Cost (DFC) & Total Lifecycle Economics5
- 4.1Target costing, part value analysis, cost drivers in material and logistics
- 4.2Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) across product lifecycle
- 4.3Example: Cost trade-off matrix: Local vs. imported materials
- 4.4Example: Boeing’s strategy for composite material cost vs. weight saving
- 4.5Cost Breakdown Activity: Participants estimate cost savings via design changes
- Design for Reliability (DFR)6
- 5.1Systematic reliability design, redundancy, early failure mode prediction (FMEA)
- 5.2Lifecycle focus: MTBF, MTTR
- 5.3Comparing failure rates in automotive vs. medical devices
- 5.4Redundancy in helicopters vs. single-point systems
- 5.5Example: Dashboard lifecycle design; FMEA on turbine components
- 5.6Exercise: FMEA Table: Map failure points in a familiar system
- Design for Serviceability (DFS)5
- 6.1MTTR, Predictive Maintenance, Ease of access in field repair
- 6.2Environmental impact and sustainability in service lifecycle
- 6.3Example: Modular servicing in consumer electronics
- 6.4Example: Predictive analytics for planned maintenance in heavy machinery
- 6.5Case Study Review: Compare field vs. shop-level serviceability designs
- Design for Testability (DFT)5
- Integration, Application & Cross-functional Alignment5
- 8.1Cross-functional DFX reviews
- 8.2System engineering mindset in DFX adoption
- 8.3Early vs. late-stage design reviews: Impact on schedule, cost, rework
- 8.4Collaborative design involving engineering, procurement, quality
- 8.5DFX Challenge Simulation: Teams solve a hypothetical product issue using DFMARST; Output: Identify changes across design for mfg, assly, cost, testing
Instructor
