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 an d it's process plan is initially designed, then finalized. In the final sta ge of the product's design, a dimension of the product may be modified, whi ch requires the manufacturing side to change the corresponding dimension wi thout delay: consequently with the information on the manufacturing side, t he product designer can make a correct decision quickly. This paper present s a mathematical approach to tackle this dimensioning problem in DFM/CE. Tw o 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 correspon ding 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 simultaneo usly when a design dimension is changed. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.