Very often, the most significant benefits with design for manufacturability (DFM) come from designing for assembly (DFA), simplifying the product so that it has fewer parts and its assembly is easier and faster. One reason for this is the fact that final assembly labor and overhead together may comprise the largest single item of cost in the manufacture of a product, and if this item can be reduced, the benefits are substantial. However, designing for assembly has ramifications far beyond the cost of the assembly operation, itself. A product designed for ease of assembly can provide benefits throughout the company. Service and recycling are facilitated when a product is simplified; one that is easy to assemble in the factory is normally easier to disassemble when maintenance, repair, or disassembly for recycling takes place. Simpler assemblies often can be brought to market sooner because of fewer parts to design, procure, inspect, and stock with less probability that a delay will occur. Products with fewer parts have an opportunity for better quality and reliability, although these attributes are not ensured.

Additional benefits, when the number of parts is reduced, are fewer engineering and production-control documents, lower inventory levels, reduced need for inspection and quality-control documents, fewer setups, less materials handling, and probably, reduced purchasing workload.

From this, it may be seen that the...