DFMA 2009 features design-for-environment tools

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Mar 12, 2009

Boothroyd Dewhurst has added design-for-environment tools to its Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DFMA) 2009 software.

Both modules in the integrated DFMA suite - DFA Version 9.4 and DFM Concurrent Costing Version 2.3 - have been updated.

This is intended to offer engineering teams the ability to assess the environmental impact of their products and the option of running a quick machining estimate as well as the existing full analysis feature.

It is a program designed to estimate the cost of machining a batch of parts when using a devoted machining cell.

Dr Winston Knight, senior vice-president at Boothroyd Dewhurst, said: 'We are responding to a number of market trends and user requests with this new release of our DFMA software.

'Manufacturers are increasingly aware that addressing the environmental impact of their products will soon be a requirement for entry into major markets.

'Designers can now select the best materials for greener products, even as they innovate with DFMA to build more performance into efficient, leaner designs,' he added.

The DFMA 2009 software is claimed to guide engineers through simplification of a product design.

It then quickly estimates assembly labour and part manufacturing costs.

The software identifies the major cost drivers associated with a range of choices for part manufacture and finishing.

This quantitative, multi-disciplinary approach to cost assessment is said to help companies create high-quality products that are more economical to manufacture.

'Downstream' cost reduction for the extended organisation is a considerable side benefit; when products have fewer parts, companies can streamline suppliers, inventory, shipping and digital archives.

When products are easier to manufacture, companies can improve factory output and overall resource use.

Meeting the needs of an increasingly eco-conscious marketplace, DFMA 2009 is said to allow product designers to conduct an environmental assessment; during the concept stage, they can evaluate the impact of material selection as well as account for the end-of-life status of their product.

The analysis prompts designers to select the materials they prefer to use or avoid from the DFMA database.

It then reveals the proportions (by weight) of those materials in the product.

It also estimates and designates the proportions of product that go to different end-of-life destinations, including reuse, recycling, landfill and incineration.

These measures help manufacturers meet such requirements as the European Union's Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) regulations.

With DFMA 2009, designers can choose and calculate various cell arrangement scenarios for maximum efficiency.

The software uncovers hidden costs of labour and machine idleness and can assess the time needed to complete entire manufacturing runs at different production volumes.

The DFM Concurrent Costing Version 2.3 software in DFMA 2009 offers two types of machined/cut-from-stock analyses: a traditional full analysis and a quick estimate.

The quick estimate is said to be able to approximate part cost with little effort.

Engineers may install their own cost model for a manufacturing process into the DFM Concurrent Costing software.

DFMA 2009 can now read Solidworks geometry information directly; third-party software is no longer necessary.

The DFMA software operates in Microsoft Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Vista.