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Bill Devenish Receives DFMA Supporter of the Year at the 2016 International Forum on DFMA^®

WAKEFIELD, R.I., USA, June 21, 2016—Bill Devenish, Principal Engineer-Global DFx at the Kohler Company, accepted the “Distinguished DFMA Supporter of the Year Award” at the Boothroyd Dewhurst 2016 International Forum on Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DFMA®) in Providence, R.I., June 7-8.

The Forum is the foremost conference worldwide on DFMA methodologies and software. This year’s theme was “DFMA Design Decision: Understanding Total Product Cost.”

Devenish, who spoke about “Understanding Engineers” at this year’s Forum, is recognized for his long history of finding innovative solutions that lead to milestone cost reductions and market excellence for the companies he serves. Devenish was acknowledged by Boothroyd Dewhurst, Inc. for his work within various manufacturing organizations and for his role in consistently educating the larger engineering community about DFMA.

Of many notable achievements discussed at the 2016 DFMA “Design Decision” Forum was Woodward Inc.’s progress in showing the value of data-driven cost models within their supply chain. Speakers Chris Platz and Jeff Durham discussed the company’s pursuit of an “open book” mindset of collaborating with suppliers to actively work through key cost variables and mutually identify design and process alternatives. As a result, RFQ/Selection/ESI/PO launch cycles have shrunk by half.

Likewise, Dynisco’s Matt Miles illustrated the far-reaching benefits of engaging the supply chain in transparent costing and design. The Dynisco business model includes full supplier collaboration and rigorous competitive benchmarking, leading to an understanding of Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) that includes not only manufacturing but shipping-, IP- and currency-risk factors as well.

“The 2016 DFMA Forum sought to answer questions every organization faces about achieving optimal product function, time-to-market and cost,” said John Gilligan, president of Boothroyd Dewhurst. “Manufacturers can meet all three challenges if they start their efforts earlier in design and use DFMA with other methods, such as Value Engineering, Lean and TCO.”

DFMA product simplification and cost estimating allow engineers to scrutinize parts and assemblies for structural efficiency, guiding them toward the creation of single, multifunctional components with significantly improved performance-to-cost ratios. Development teams can also examine competing materials and processes and quantitatively judge the cost trade-offs of producing new designs or improving existing products.

The resulting elegant, highly economical products enable companies to better reach their Lean, Value Engineering and TCO goals by increasing manufacturing throughput and reducing the organizational footprint that products make in their journey from design workstation to factory floor—and on to the customer.

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, and Boeing, 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.

Bill Devenish, Principal Engineer-Global DFx at the Kohler Company, with his “Distinguished DFMA Supporter of the Year” award given to him by Boothroyd Dewhurst at the 2016 International Forum on Design for Manufacture and Assembly in Providence, R.I.