Design For Everything

September 22, 2021 Hosted by Parker Dillmann, Stephen Kraig

DFM, DFT, DFA? What does it all mean to product designers and engineers? Stephen and Parker cover what Designing For really means.

The DFs

  • DFA – Design for Assembly
  • DFC – Design for Conservation
  • DFD – Design for Documentation 
  • DFM – Design for Manufacturing
  • DFP – Design for Production
  • DFR – Design for Repair / Recycle
  • DFT – Design for Test
  • DFS – Design for Safety

How to DFX

  • Identify what you are Designing For
    • Perhaps list them based on priority
    • Make a list of all of the items
    • Make a timeline for which DF applies when in the product life
  • Create a list of key design criteria
    • This will vary based on where the product is in the design cycle
  • Schedule specific focused time to have a team review the DF
    • Have the main designer present, but it is best to have other perform the DF checks
  • Have a sign off and circle back process
    • If it passes then have the team sign off and move to the next stage
    • If it fails, have a process of fixing and asses if another full DF meeting is needed
    • Perhaps just a small DF meeting to address one thing
  • At then end of the product design cycle you will have a folder of completed design checks that help validate the release of the product

DFA vs DFM vs DFP

Techniques for making revisions easier

  • Put circuits that you know need adjustment where you can reach them with a soldering iron or a probe
  • 0 ohm resistors
    • Make for very easy configuration changes
  • DNI/DNP – lots of people don’t know this is a thing
  • Multiple footprints
  • Parallel components
  • Room for soldering!
  • Test points – different from component terminations
  • Keep lists of things to remove for production

Hosts: Parker Dillmann, Stephen Kraig

Special thanks to whixr over at Tymkrs for the intro and outro!