| Mr. Hoska's career has moved him through all phases of the product cycle, from designing the product to addressing the manufacturing issues
created by a product's design. He will be presenting ideas and images of some of the early designed robots, those robots being used today, and suggestions as
to how the futures robots might appear. One item to be mentioned will be the robotic manufacturing system that was built at the Twin Cities Honeywell plant
for manufacture of thermostatic controls for use in the home. It has been learned that the functions of the end of the arm tool need to be prepared first
and then the actual robotic arm mechanism should be designed to go with the tool. |
| Over the years, he has taught many classes and seminars on design for manufacturability (DFM). Some companies became true
believers, putting into practice critical DFM concepts and procedures. For others, however, the following scenario played out. First, class attendees would
tell me they learned a lot: How to evaluate current designs for cost and time to produce; how to design for fewer parts; how to design for ease of assembly
and serviceability. But what came next was a killer. They would then say: "This was really great, but management will not give us the time to do this." Even
though 80% of product costs are set at the design stage (start-of-process), many companies continued to focus their cost-saving efforts on manufacturing issues
(end-of-process). |
| Today, the manufacturing buzz term is Lean Manufacturing . But when companies start talking about instituting lean
manufacturing, one wonders if they are playing the same game -- focusing on end-of-process assembly issues, while disregarding more critical front-of-process
planning: Lean Design (really another term for DFM). |
| Company focus is often on tweaking manufacturing processes after the tooling, molds, and production lines are setup. The cost is high and
the savings often small for the time spent trying to address production issues that were inadvertently built into the product design. Companies today are
ignoring design issues while spending hours, weeks, or even months creating lean-manufacturing teams that are getting only small returns on the manufacturing
floor. Management puts the burden of reducing production costs on manufacturing engineers, without understanding that it is the product design that is
causing the issues. |
| The reality is that if a company is looking to get the most for their planning dollars, the focus should be on design. According to Munro
and Associates: While 5% of product costs are devoted to design functions, the resulting design affects 70% of a product's final cost. |
| The cost and potential quality of a product are fixed at the design stage. Yet companies spend little time educating their
design staff on critical design issues. They permit only limited time and effort for product design - thereby limiting all future efforts to reduce costs,
reduce production time, and increase quality. |
Rather than focusing on lean manufacturing (which can only gain limited improvements), companies should provide more focus on product
design. Getting a multidisciplinary team together early in the design stage (designers, manufacturing engineers, shop-floor operators, outside vendors, and
consultants) should be a high priority. To be successful, this team needs:
- Training: This team cannot think of new ways to do their jobs or use new design rules within both training and opportunities to evaluate product designs.
- Tools: There many DFM analytical tools available (manual and computer methodologies) to help teams evaluate current and planned designs.
- Time: Additional time must be allocated to the design phase of a product.
|
| Commitment, of course, must start with management. They first need to understand the potential benefits of investing in the strategy of
Lean Design/Design for Manufacturability. |
| |
| Access Mr. Hoska's Biography page. |
| MapQuest link to January 2008 event is available below. |
