Introduction to Design for Manufacturing

In Introduction to Design for Manufacturing, you'll learn ...

• Basic rules for mechanical design which can be applied across a multitude of manufacturing processes
• Methods to optimize your design for assembly and disassembly
• “Rules of thumb” to follow when using injection molding, die-casting, extrusions, machining, and sheet metal work
• Material selection as it relates to durability, robustness, dimensional standards, commercial availability and the manufacturing processes to be used

Overview

Preview a portion of this course before purchasing it.

Credit: 4 PDH

Length: 50 pages

If you are an engineer who has worked in manufacturing and would like to design new products or if you are new to the world of new product design and would like to understand some of the most common manufacturing processes, this course is for you. We have designed this introductory course to help guide you through the most basic principles in mechanical engineering design. Design for manufacturing (DFM) is a set of guidelines that may seem self evident, but it might amaze the average person how many designs do not follow these simple principles.

This course will go over basic design principles that apply across manufacturing—no matter what manufacturing processes are used. We will then proceed to discuss these “rules of thumb” to follow when using each manufacturing process. The major processes that will be discussed are injection molding, die casting, extrusions, machining, sheet metal, and general assembly. Another term frequently used is Design for Assembly (DFA). We will go over in detail a set of rules to try to follow when designing products with assembly in mind.

Material selection is a major factor in designing products. Sizes and shapes of parts have high impact on material selection. Other factors in material choice outside of the area of manufacturability are product failure and/or strength of materials, which will be discussed in basic terms. The word generally applied here is “robustness”.

The last topic that will be discussed in this course is designing for disassembly. Today, recycling continues to be a daily part of the average person’s life and as a design engineer it is invaluable to be able to tell your customer that the product can be recycled. If the product is a multi component assembly, then it must be easily disassembled before recycling is accomplished. So, knowledge about designing for disassembly is helpful in your work and might be a vital consideration for your customer.

Specific Knowledge or Skill Obtained

This course teaches the following specific knowledge and skills:

• The basic design principles, like: symmetry, minimizing part counts, using standard off the shelf parts, avoiding special features in each part, avoiding difficult part assemblies, and keeping part costs low
• A general understanding of manufacturing processes and when to choose each one. An understanding of part shape and other factors in choosing the most appropriate manufacturing process
• A basic understanding of designing an injection molded part, including wall thickness and draft
• A realization of the limitations of processes, like stamping, and when deep drawn tooling would be required
• An understanding of minimum bend radius and similar terms.
• How to perform a tolerance stack up
• Knowledge about factors that impact “robustness”
• How annual sales volume influences the choices in the manufacturing processes.
• How and why to reduce part count
• Product life cycle and its effect on manufacturing process and product design.
• What might make a product more or less recyclable
• The importance of “Design for Disassembly”

Certificate of Completion

You will be able to immediately print a certificate of completion after passing a multiple-choice quiz consisting of 20 questions. PDH credits are not awarded until the course is completed and quiz is passed.