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Editorial contact: Power of DFMA to Reduce Manufacturing Operational Costs Revealed in New Survey Leading manufacturers cite early design decisions as critical to profitability in results roundtable released today WAKEFIELD, R.I., USA, October 9, 2007 – Sixty-eight percent of a survey group, including Fortune 400 companies, measured an increase in production throughput, and 47 percent an increase in profit per unit of factory floor space, after applying Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DFMA®) techniques to their organizations’ supply chains. A roundtable discussion of these and other results from the questionnaire, conducted by Boothroyd Dewhurst, Inc., is now available at http://www.dfma.com/downstream Respondents included Dell, Motorola, TRW Automotive, Raytheon, MDS Analytical Technologies, Magna Intier Automotive Seating and other leading North American manufacturers. Some participants also contributed to a candid roundtable discussion about applying design simplification and early costing to Lean and Six Sigma programs, along with the opportunities missed by industry in measuring financial best practices. “We achieved a 300 percent increase in profit per square foot of factory floor space by taking a lot of cost and labor out of product using DFMA tools,” said Mike Shipulski, director of engineering, Hypertherm, Inc., a leader in plasma cutting technology. “Like many others who participated in this survey, we’ve barely begun documenting some of the savings we know we’re achieving. Everyone in industry recognizes the limitations of using traditional cost accounting methods to identify overhead savings outside the areas of directly applied labor and materials.” Boothroyd Dewhurst President John Gilligan pointed out that there has been a great deal of investment in manufacturing approaches, from Lean to PLM, intended to cut costs. “It’s critical that people understand how early design decisions profoundly affect the savings achieved by these other efforts,” he said. “This survey clearly demonstrates that it’s time to open a deeper dialogue about the relationship between design efficiency and total manufacturing returns.” For the full report go to http://www.dfma.com/downstream About Boothroyd Dewhurst, Inc. Boothroyd Dewhurst, Inc., was the first company to commercialize Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DFMA) methodologies and software tools, which make it possible to evaluate, estimate, and reduce the manufacturing cost of a product in the design phase through product simplification and cost estimation. Hundreds of Fortune 1000 companies, including Dell, John Deere, Harley-Davidson, and Whirlpool, use DFMA to cut the costs of their manufactured products and achieve design innovation in their markets. The company was founded in 1983 and received the National Medal of Technology Award in 1991. For more information about DFMA software, workshops, consulting services, and international conferences, contact Boothroyd Dewhurst, Inc., 138 Main Street, Wakefield, R.I. 02879, USA. Tel. (401) 783-5840. Fax (401) 783-6872. Web site: www.dfma.com. E-mail: info@dfma.com. DFMA is a registered trademark of Boothroyd Dewhurst, Inc. |
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BOOTHROYD DEWHURST, Inc. |
