Reduced quotes using changes suggested by DFMPro can help manufacturers bag more business

Jimmy works in a manufacturing firm, OnTrack, which delivers machined, turned and fabricated components based on requirements from its clients. The firm operates in a very competitive environment where they have to bid for the manufacturing contracts from clients and compete with at least ten to twelve other firms to win a bid. Generally, the vendors are on equal ground on quality so the winner is generally decided based on cost. OnTrack was struggling to survive since, given the current levels of resources they had, costs could not be reduced further. They had to innovate to survive in this cut throat market. Jimmy was given the job of coming up with ideas and solutions for this tough situation.

Jimmy researched in the market and came across DFMPro, an automated tool that supports several common Design for Manufacturing guidelines for machining and fabrication which helps to produce parts economically with better quality, shorter time and readily available machining tools. Jimmy realized that by employing DFMPro, they could come up with design suggestions which could reduce the manufacturing cost.

For example, in some designs, machined pockets were designed to have sharp corners whereas they were not important from a functional standpoint. Similarly, many designers had a habit of chamfering or filleting all parts edges which again was unnecessary and resulted in increased cost. In many cases, hole diameters were different from standard available tool sizes. For large runs, tool and setup customization may be acceptable but it would drastically affect the cost for short runs.

Such design modifications for ease of manufacturing could be suggested to the client. These could reduce not only the cost of manufacturing but also the time required for delivery. If the customer was ok with these changes, OnTrack could submit a reduced bid and thus possibly get the contract. Jimmy got an evaluation version of DFMPro for SolidWorks and employed these techniques for a few bids and to his surprise, he got a positive response from the client. The prospect readily agreed with the suggested changes when he was informed of the impact those changes on the cost. Not only did OnTrack win the bid, but was named a preferred vendor for future bids. OnTrack was back on track to improving profits thanks to Jimmy and DFMPro.

Disclaimer: All names and characters mentioned in the stories are fictitious. Any resemblance with real characters/ entities should be considered as mere coincidence.