Design for Assembly

DFA
 Goals of DFA
• Simplify product and assembly to
– Save money
– Improve quality
– Improve reliability
Product Design for Manufacture and Assembly
Boothroyd, Dewhurst, and Knight
Product Design for Manufacture and Assembly
Boothroyd, Dewhurst, and Knight
 Formal Techniques
• Boothroyd-Dewhurst http://www.dfma.com/
• Lucas
• Hitachi AEM
Boothroyd-Dewhurst

• First: Three main questions to see if parts

are essential
– Does the part move relative to other parts?
– Must the part be a different material or
isolated from other parts?
– Must the part be separate to allow assembly?
 Boothroyd-Dewhurst
• Examine the handling and insertion of
each part and rate factors such as
– Assembly time
– Assembly cost
 Lucas Method
• Point scale which gives relative measures
of assembly difficulty in the form of
– Design efficiency
– Feeding/handling ratio
– Fitting ratio
Cummins
 Example Staple Remover

https://www.totalofficesupplies.co.uk/catalog/images/296905.jpg
One rivet – saves two parts and
two operations.

http://img.alibaba.com/photo/215358984/plastic_staple_remover_staple_remove
r_mini_staple_remover_.summ.jpg
 No Rivets – How is this done?

http://curbly_uploads_production.s3.amazonaws.com/p
hotos/0000/0001/3920/red_staple_remover_large.jpg
 Fewest Parts

http://www.oppictures.com/singleimages/400/SWI37141_2_1.JPG
Design Variants – Does Fewest parts
always produce the Best design?
General Electric
Bralla
Bralla
Bralla
Bralla
Bralla
Bralla
When possible, avoid using countersunk screws for fastening
(a). Any lateral (e.g. center-distance) or angular misalignment
stresses the screw and changes Its height relative to the part
surface. Square-shouldered heads located in oversize
counterbores (b) are preferable.

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Bralla
Bralla
Avoiding Overspecification Of Dimensions Of Mating Parts

The axial position of the bushing relative

to the housing is overdetermined in (a).

A one diameter hole, (b), eliminates this

drawback.

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Stock Drive Products
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Product Design for Manufacture and Assembly
Boothroyd, Dewhurst, and Knight
Long shafts and bushings are easier to assemble with a two-
diameter construction. In such cases avoid having to match
counterbore depth with the length of the reduced-diameter portion
of the shaft (a). The depth of the counterbore should be slightly
less than the length of the reduced-diameter portion of the shaft.

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Design For Accessibility

In an assembly in which the bolt head is not readily accessible (a), an

access hole for a wrench Is provided in design (b) or-better still-the
bolt can be replaced by readily assembled threaded pins (c).

Similarly a nut and bolt (a) should be located for easy accessibility as
in (b) for tubular or Allen wrenches (the latter for a hexagonal socket
head).
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Product Design for Manufacture and Assembly
Boothroyd, Dewhurst, and Knight
Design For Ease Of Disassembly.

When using dowel pins for alignment, avoid blind

holes (a). The addition of a small-diameter exit hole
(b) permits Introducing a punch for extracting the
dowel pin. Better still, if possible, use a one-
diameter bore (c); and if one part is too long for
easy extraction, increase the diameter of the
clearance hole (d), which does not require close
tolerances.

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Product Design for Manufacture and Assembly
Boothroyd, Dewhurst, and Knight