An Over-View Of The Applications Of Dfa (Design For Assembly) Techniques On Automobile Components For Reducing Assembly Time And Cost

Abstract

Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DFMA) techniques are useful for minimizing the cost of products through design and process improvements. DFMA is a combination of Design for Manufacturing (DFM) and Design for Assembly (DFA). This paper focuses case studies on the successful application of DFA techniques on Automobile components and reports the reduction in assembly time and cost of the product successfully achieved by different R&D works carried out by researchers around the World, collected through literature survey. Information available related to the following topics are collected and analyzed: minimize part count, design parts with self-locating features, design parts with self-fastening features, minimize reorientation of parts during assembly, standardization of parts, minimum use of fasteners, modular design, design for a base part to locate other components and design for component symmetry for insertion. The findings reported in this over-view are useful to practicing design engineers.