Design for

X
(DES 508)

Dr. Arivazhagan. A
IIITD&M, Kancheepuram

10/5/15

Arivazhagan.A, IIITD&M,
Kancheepuram

Design for Assembly

DFA should be considered at all stages of the
design process, but especially the early stages.
design team should give serious consideration
to the ease of assembly of the product or
subassembly.
The team needs a DFA tool to effectively
analyze the ease of assembly of the products
10/5/15

Arivazhagan.A, IIITD&M,
Kancheepuram

or subassemblies it designs.

Design for Assembly

The design tool should provide quick results

and be simple and easy to use.
It

should

ensure

consistency

and

completeness in its evaluation of product

assimilability.

10/5/15

Arivazhagan.A, IIITD&M,
Kancheepuram

Design for Assembly

It should also
eliminate

subjective

judgment

from

design

assessment,
allow free association of ideas,
enable easy comparison of alternative designs,
ensure that solutions are evaluated logically,
identify assembly problem areas, and
suggest alternative approaches
for simplifying the product structurethereby
reducing manufacturing and assembly costs.
10/5/15

Arivazhagan.A, IIITD&M,
Kancheepuram

Design for Assembly

By applying a DFA tool,
communication between manufacturing and
design engineering is improved, and
ideas, reasoning, and decisions made during
the design process become well documented
for future reference.
10/5/15

Arivazhagan.A, IIITD&M,
Kancheepuram

Design for Assembly

The DFA method accomplishes the main design
& cost objectives by:
1. Providing a tool for the designer or design
team assuring that the
considerations

of

product

complexity

and

assembly take place at the earliest design

stage.
This

10/5/15

eliminates

Arivazhagan.A, IIITD&M,
Kancheepuram

the

danger

of

focusing
6

Design for Assembly

2. Guides the designer or design team to
simplify the product so that savings in both
assembly

costs

and

piece

parts

can

be

realized.
3. Helping less-experienced designers with the
information collected

by the experienced

design engineer and arranging it conveniently

for use
10/5/15

Arivazhagan.A, IIITD&M,
Kancheepuram

Design guidelines for Part

Handling
1 . Design parts that
have end-to-end
symmetry and rotational symmetry about the
axis of insertion.
If this cannot be achieved, try to design parts
having the maximum possible symmetry (see
Fig. a).

10/5/15

Arivazhagan.A, IIITD&M,
Kancheepuram

Design guidelines for Part

Handling
2. Design parts that,
in those instances where
the part cannot be made symmetric, are
obviously asymmetric (see Fig. b).
3. Provide features that will prevent jamming
of parts that tend to nest or stack when stored
in bulk (see Fig. c).

10/5/15

Arivazhagan.A, IIITD&M,
Kancheepuram

Design guidelines for Part

Handling
4. Avoid features that
will allow tangling of
parts when stored in bulk (see Fig. d).
5. Avoid parts that stick together or are
slippery, delicate, flexible, very small, or very
large or that are hazardous to the handler (i.e.,
parts that are sharp, splinter easily, etc.)

10/5/15

Arivazhagan.A, IIITD&M,
Kancheepuram

10

Design guidelines for Insertion

and Fastening
For ease of insertion
a designer should
attempt to:
1. Design so that there is little or no resistance
to insertion and provide chamfers to guide
insertion of two mating parts.
Generous clearance should be provided, but
care must be taken to avoid clearances that
Arivazhagan.A, IIITD&M,
Kancheepuram

will result in a tendency for parts to jam or

10/5/15

11

10/5/15

Arivazhagan.A, IIITD&M,
Kancheepuram

12

Design guidelines for Insertion

Fastening
2. Standardizeand
by using
common parts,
processes, and methods across all models and
even across product lines to permit the use of
higher volume processes that normally result in
lower product cost (see Fig. 3.7). cost (Fig.
3.11).

10/5/15

Arivazhagan.A, IIITD&M,
Kancheepuram

13

Design guidelines for Insertion

Fastening
3. Use pyramidand
assemblyprovide
for
progressive assembly about one axis of
reference. In general, it is best to assemble
from above (see Fig. 3.8).

10/5/15

Arivazhagan.A, IIITD&M,
Kancheepuram

14

Design guidelines for Insertion

Fastening
4. Avoid, whereand
possible,
the necessity for
holding parts down to maintain their
orientation during manipulation of the
subassembly or during the placement of
another part (see Fig. 3.9).
If holding down is required, then try to
design so that the part is secured as soon as
possible after it has been inserted.
10/5/15

Arivazhagan.A, IIITD&M,
Kancheepuram

15

Design guidelines for Insertion

and
Fastening
5. Design so that
a part
is located before it is
released.
A potential source of problems arises from a
part being placed where, due to design
constraints, it must be released before it is
positively located in the assembly.
Under these circumstances, reliance is placed
Arivazhagan.A, IIITD&M,
Kancheepuram

on the trajectory of the part being sufficiently

10/5/15

16

10/5/15

Arivazhagan.A, IIITD&M,
Kancheepuram

17

Design guidelines for Insertion

and
Fastening
6. When common
mechanical
fasteners are
used, the following sequence indicates the
relative cost of different fastening processes,
listed in order of increasing manual assembly
cost (Fig. 3.11).

10/5/15

Arivazhagan.A, IIITD&M,
Kancheepuram

18

Design guidelines for Insertion

and
7. Avoid the need
toFastening
reposition the partially
completed assembly in the fixture (see Fig.
3.12).

10/5/15

Arivazhagan.A, IIITD&M,
Kancheepuram

19

Development of the systematic

Methodology
Starting inDFA
1977,
analytical methods were
developed

for

determining

the

most

economical assembly process for a product and

for analyzing ease of manual, automatic, and
robot assembly.
Experimental studies were performed to
measure the effects of symmetry, size, weight,
thickness, and flexibility on manual handling
time.
10/5/15

Arivazhagan.A, IIITD&M,
Kancheepuram

20

Development of the systematic

Methodology
Additional DFA
experiments
were conducted

to

quantify the effect of

part

thickness

on

the

grasping

and

manipulation of a part using tweezers,

the effect of spring geometry on the handling
time of helical compression springs, and
the effect of weight on handling time for parts
requiring

two

manipulation.
10/5/15

hands

for

Arivazhagan.A, IIITD&M,
Kancheepuram

grasping

and
21

Development of the systematic

Methodology
Regarding DFA
the design
of parts for ease of
manual insertion and fastening, experimental
and theoretical analyses were performed on
the effect of chamfer design on manual
insertion time,
the design of parts to avoid jamming during
assembly,
the effect of part geometry on insertion time,
and

10/5/15

Arivazhagan.A, IIITD&M,
Kancheepuram

22

Development of the systematic

DFAand
Methodology
A classification
coding system for manual
handling, insertion, and fastening processes,
based on the results of these studies, was
presented in the form of a time standard
system for designers to use in estimating
manual assembly time.
To evaluate the effectiveness of this DFA
method the ease of assembly of a two-speed
Arivazhagan.A, IIITD&M,
Kancheepuram

reciprocating power saw and an impact wrench

10/5/15

23

Development of the systematic

DFA Methodology
The initial design
of the power saw (Fig. 3.13)
had 41 parts and an estimated assembly time
of 6.37min. The redesign (Fig. 3.14) had 29
parts for a 29% reduction in part count, and an
estimated assembly time of 2.58min for a 59%
reduction in assembly time.
The outcome of further analyses was a more
than 50% savings in assembly time, a
Arivazhagan.A, IIITD&M,
Kancheepuram

significant reduction in parts count and an

10/5/15

24

Development of the systematic

DFA Methodology

10/5/15

Arivazhagan.A, IIITD&M,
Kancheepuram

25

Development of the systematic

DFA Methodology

10/5/15

Arivazhagan.A, IIITD&M,
Kancheepuram

26

Assembly Efficiency
An essential ingredient of the DFA method is
the use of a measure of the DFA index or
"assembly efficiency" of a proposed design.
In general, the two main factors that influence
the assembly cost of a product or subassembly
are
The number of parts in a product.
The ease of handling, insertion, and fastening
of the parts.
10/5/15

Arivazhagan.A, IIITD&M,
Kancheepuram

27

Assembly Efficiency
The DFA index is a figure obtained by dividing
the theoretical minimum assembly time by the
actual assembly time.

The equation for calculating the DFA index Ema

is

where Nmin is the theoretical minimum number of parts,

ta is the basic assembly time for one part, and
Arivazhagan.A, IIITD&M,
tma
is the estimated time to
complete
the assembly of the product.
10/5/15
28
Kancheepuram

Assembly Efficiency
The figure for the theoretical minimum
number of parts represents an ideal situation
where separate parts are combined into a
single part unless, as each part is added to the
assembly, one of the following criteria is met:
1. During the normal operating mode of the
product, the part moves relative to all other
parts already assembled. (Small motions do
Arivazhagan.A, IIITD&M,
Kancheepuram

not qualify if they can be obtained through the

10/5/15

29

Assembly Efficiency
2. The part must be of a different material
than, or must be isolated from, all other parts
assembled (for insulation, electrical isolation,
vibration damping, etc.).
3. The part must be separate from all other
assembled parts; otherwise the assembly of
parts meeting one of the preceding criteria
would be prevented.
10/5/15

Arivazhagan.A, IIITD&M,
Kancheepuram

30

Classification of Systems
The classification system for assembly
processes is a systematic arrangement of
part features that affect acquisition,
movement, orientation, insertion, and
fastening of the part together with some
operations that are not associated with specific
parts such as turning the assembly over.
10/5/15

Arivazhagan.A, IIITD&M,
Kancheepuram

31

Classification of Systems
Selected

portions

of

the

complete

classification system, its associated definitions,

and the corresponding time standards are
presented in tables in Figs. 3.15 to 3.17.
It can be seen that the classification numbers
consist of two digits; the first digit identifies
the row and the second digit identifies the
column in the table.
10/5/15

Arivazhagan.A, IIITD&M,
Kancheepuram

32

Classificati
on of
Systems

10/5/15

Arivazhagan.A, IIITD&M,
Kancheepuram

33

Classificati
on of
Systems

10/5/15

Arivazhagan.A, IIITD&M,
Kancheepuram

34

CLASSIFICATION SYSTEMS
FIG. 3.15: Selected manual handling time standards, seconds (parts are
within easy reach, are no smaller than 6mm, do not stick together, and are not
fragile or sharp).
For parts that can be grasped and manipulated with one hand without the aid of
grasping tools
No handling difficulty
Thickness > 2mm
Sys(deg)=

sym < 360

360 <= sym
<540
540
<=
sym<720
sym = 720

0
1
2
3

Part nests or tangle

<2mm

Thickness > 2mm

Size>15
mm

6mm<Size<1
5mm

Size>6
mm

Size>15
mm

6mm<Size<1
5mm

Size>6
mm

1.13

1.43

1.69

1.84

2.17

2.45

1.50

1.80

2.06

2.25

2.57

3.00

1.80

2.10

2.36

2.57

2.90

3.18

1.95

2.25

2.51

2.73

3.06

3.34

<=180
Size>15
mm
0

For parts that can be lifted with one hand but require two hands
because they severely nest or tangle, are flexible or require forming
etc.
10/5/15

<2mm

Dr. Mohammad Abuhaiba

4.1

6mm<Size<1
5mm
1
35

4.5

= 360
Size>6
mm
2
5.6

CLASSIFICATION SYSTEMS
FIG. 3.16: Selected manual insertion time standards, seconds (parts are
small and there is no resistance to insertion).
Part inserted but not secured immediately or secured by snap fit
secured by separate
operation or part
no holding
holding down
down
required
required
easy
not
easy
not
to
easy
to
easy
align
to
align
to
align
align
0
1
2
3
no access or vision
0
1.5
3.9
2.6
difficulties
obstructed access or
1
1.7
5.2
4.5
Part inserted
and secured immediately by screw
restricted
vision
fastening with
power
are for
5 revs7.0
or
obstructed
access
and tool (Times
2
5.9
7.4
less and do
not include a tool acquisition time of
restricted
vision

not
easy
to
align
5

5.2

1.8

3.3

7.4

4.0
easy
to
7.7
align
0

5.5
not
easy
7.7
to
align
1

3.6

5.3

6.3

8.0

9.6

2.9s)

10/5/15

secured on
insertion by
snap fit

no access or vision
3
Dr. Mohammad difficulties
Abuhaiba
36
Restricted vision only 4

easy
to
align

CLASSIFICATION SYSTEMS
FIG. 3.17: Selected separate operation times, seconds (solid parts
already in place)

Screw tighten
with power tool

10/5/15

Addition of
non solids

Manipulation reorientation or
adjustment
1

5.2

4.5

Dr. Mohammad Abuhaiba

37

Classification of Systems
The portion of the classification system for
manual insertion and fastening processes is
concerned with the interaction between mating
parts as they are assembled.
Manual insertion and fastening consists of a
finite variety of basic assembly tasks (peg-inhole, screw, weld, rivet, press-fit, etc.) that are
common to most manufactured products.
10/5/15

Arivazhagan.A, IIITD&M,
Kancheepuram

38

Classification of Systems
It can be seen that for each two-digit code
number, an average time is given.
Thus, we have a set of time standards that can
be used to estimate manual assembly times.
These time standards were obtained from
numerous experiments, some of which will now
be described.
10/5/15

Arivazhagan.A, IIITD&M,
Kancheepuram

39

Effect of Part symmetry on

One of theHandling
principal Time
geometrical design
features that affects the times required to
grasp and orient a part is its symmetry.
Assembly operations always involve at least
two component parts:
the part to be inserted and
the part or assembly (receptacle) into which
Arivazhagan.A, IIITD&M,
Kancheepuram

the part is inserted.

10/5/15

40

Effect of Part symmetry on

Handling
Orientation involves
theTime
proper alignment of
the

part

to

be

inserted

relative

to

the

corresponding receptacle and can always be

divided into two distinct operations:
(1) alignment of the axis of the part that
corresponds to the axis of insertion, and
(2) rotation of the part about this axis.
10/5/15

Arivazhagan.A, IIITD&M,
Kancheepuram

41

CLASSIFICATION SYSTEMS
Definitions For Fig. 3.15
Alpha: rotational symmetry of a part about an axis

perpendicular to its axis of insertion. For parts with one axis of

insertion, end-to-end orientation is necessary when = 360,
otherwise =180.
Beta: rotational symmetry of a part about its axis of

insertion. The magnitude of rotational symmetry is the smallest

angle through which the part can be rotated and repeat its
orientation. For a cylinder inserted into a circular hole, = 0.
Thickness: length of the shortest side of the smallest

rectangular prism that encloses the part.

If the part is cylindrical, or has a regular polygonal cross
section with five or more sides and the diameter is less
than the length, then thickness is defined as the radius of
the smallest cylinder which can enclose the part.
Size: length of the longest side of the smallest rectangular

prism that can enclose the part.

10/5/15

Arivazhagan.A, IIITD&M,
Kancheepuram

42

CLASSIFICATION SYSTEMS
Definitions For Fig. 3.16.
Holding down required: part will require gripping,

realignment, or holding down before it is finally secured.

Easy to align and position: insertion is facilitated by

well designed chamfers or similar features.

Obstructed access: the space available for the

assembly operation causes a significant increase in the

assembly time.

Restricted vision: the operator has to rely mainly on

tactile sensing during the assembly process.

10/5/15

Arivazhagan.A, IIITD&M,
Kancheepuram

43

Effect of Part symmetry on

It is thereforeHandling
convenientTime
to define two kinds
of symmetry for a part:
1. Alpha symmetry: depends on the angle
through which a part must be rotated about an
axis perpendicular to the axis of insertion to
repeat its orientation /position.

10/5/15

Arivazhagan.A, IIITD&M,
Kancheepuram

44

Effect of Part symmetry on

Handling Time

10/5/15

Arivazhagan.A, IIITD&M,
Kancheepuram

45

Effect of Part symmetry on

Handling
Time on the angle
2. Beta symmetry:
depends
through which a part must be rotated about
the axis of insertion to repeat its orientation.
For example, a plain square prism that is to be
inserted into a square hole would first have to
be rotated about an axis perpendicular to the
insertion axis.
Arivazhagan.A, IIITD&M,
Kancheepuram

Since, with such a rotation, the prism will

10/5/15

46

Effect of Part symmetry on

Handling Time

10/5/15

Arivazhagan.A, IIITD&M,
Kancheepuram

47

Effect of Part symmetry on

Handling Time

10/5/15

Arivazhagan.A, IIITD&M,
Kancheepuram

48

Effect of Part symmetry on

Time
The square Handling
prism would
then have to be
rotated about the axis of insertion, and since
the orientation of the prism about this axis
would repeat every 90, this implies a 90 beta
symmetry.
However, if the square prism were to be
inserted in a circular hole, it would have 180
alpha symmetry and 0 beta symmetry.
10/5/15

Arivazhagan.A, IIITD&M,
Kancheepuram

49

Effect of Part symmetry on

Handling Time

10/5/15

Arivazhagan.A, IIITD&M,
Kancheepuram

50

Effect of Part symmetry on

Handling Time

10/5/15

Arivazhagan.A, IIITD&M,
Kancheepuram

51

Effect of Part Thickness and Size

on Handling Time

10/5/15

Arivazhagan.A, IIITD&M,
Kancheepuram

52

Effect of Part Thickness and Size

on Handling Time

10/5/15

Arivazhagan.A, IIITD&M,
Kancheepuram

53

Effect of weight on Handling

Time

Work has been carried out on the effects of

weight

on

the

grasping,

controlling,

and

moving of parts.
The effect of increasing weight on grasping
and controlling is found to be an additive time
penalty and
the effect on moving is found to be a
10/5/15

Arivazhagan.A, IIITD&M,
Kancheepuram

proportional increase of the basic time.

54

Effect of weight on Handling

For the effect of Time
weight on a part handled
using one hand, the total adjustment tpw to
handling time can be represented by the
following equation [3]:
where W (Ib) is the weight of the part and th
(s) is the basic time for handling a "light" part
when no orientation is needed and when it is to
be moved a short distance.

IIITD&M,
average value Arivazhagan.A,
for
th is
1.13, and therefore
An
10/5/15
55
Kancheepuram

Parts Requiring Two hands for

Manipulation
A part may require
two hands for manipulation
when:
The part is heavy.
Very precise or careful handling is required.
The part is large or flexible.
The part does not possess holding features,
thus making one-hand grasp difficult.
Under these circumstances, a penalty is applied
because the second hand could be engaged in another
operationperhaps grasping another part.
IIITD&M,
10/5/15
Experience
shows Arivazhagan.A,
that
a penalty
factor of 1.556
Kancheepuram

Effects of Combination of Factors

It is important to realize that the penalties
associated with each individual factor are not
necessarily additive.
For example, if a part requires additional time
to move it from A to B, it can probably be
oriented during the move.
Therefore, it may be wrong to add the extra
Arivazhagan.A, IIITD&M,
Kancheepuram

time for part size and an extra time for

10/5/15

57

Effects of Combination of Factors

A part may require tweezers (tools used for
picking up and manipulating objects too small
to be easily handled with the human hand )
when (Fig. 3.22):
Its thickness is so small that finger-grasp is
difficult.
Vision is obscured and prepositioning is
difficult because of its small size.
Touching it is undesirable, because of high
Arivazhagan.A, IIITD&M,
Kancheepuram

temperature, for example.

10/5/15

58

Effects of Combination of Factors

10/5/15

Arivazhagan.A, IIITD&M,
Kancheepuram

59

Effects of Combination of Factors

10/5/15

Arivazhagan.A, IIITD&M,
Kancheepuram

60

Effects of chamfer design on

insertion operations

10/5/15

Arivazhagan.A, IIITD&M,
Kancheepuram

61

Estimation of Insertion Time

Empirical equations to estimate the manual insertion time ti for
both conical chamfers and curved chamfers:
For conical chamfers (Fig. 3.24), where the width of 45 chamfers
is 0.1d, the manual insertion time for a plain cylindrical peg ti is
given by

10/5/15

Arivazhagan.A, IIITD&M,
Kancheepuram

62

Estimation of Insertion Time

10/5/15

Arivazhagan.A, IIITD&M,
Kancheepuram

63

Effects of holding down

10/5/15

Arivazhagan.A, IIITD&M,
Kancheepuram

64

Effects of holding down

10/5/15

Arivazhagan.A, IIITD&M,
Kancheepuram

65

Effects of holding down

10/5/15

Arivazhagan.A, IIITD&M,
Kancheepuram

66

Design for
X
(DES 508)
Will be continued

10/5/15

Arivazhagan.A, IIITD&M,
Kancheepuram

67