Design for manufacturing: a dimensioning aspect

This paper discusses the dimensioning problem in Design for Manufacturing (DFM) and Concurrent Engineering (CE). In a DFM/CE environment, a product and it's process plan is initially designed, then finalized. In the final stage of the product's design, a dimension of the product may be modified, which requires the manufacturing side to change the corresponding dimension without delay: consequently with the information on the manufacturing side, the product designer can make a correct decision quickly. This paper presents a mathematical approach to tackle this dimensioning problem in DFM/CE. Two cases are discussed: one is the size change of a design dimension, whilst the other is the datum surface change of a design dimension. The corresponding actions in manufacturing dimensions for the two cases are analyzed in detail in this paper. The approach is very simple and fast, and the product designer can view the response of the manufacturing side almost simultaneously when a design dimension is changed.