Shipulski On Design

(View the original article here.)   Here is an exerpt:

More than 75 engineers and analysts charged with cost reduction and manufacturing attended the International Forum on Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DFMA) in Providence, RI, last month hosted by Boothroyd dewhurst.   Attendees spent two days learning about the value of cost modeling and how DFMA software has benefited users.  

To begin the proceedings, Richard McCormack of Manufacturing & Technology News painted a bleak picture of the decline of U.S. manufacturing and pointed at both the Bush and Obama administrations as sharing a good portion of blame.   McCormack’s session was drawn largely from testimony he gave before the U.S.-China Economic Security Review commission in march. 

Mike Shipulski of Hypertherm followed up with a markedly more optimistic look at manufacturing and made the case that a Systematic DFMA Deployment will reduce parts in assemblies, cut production costs, and improve product quality.  His own use of the software, he says, leads him to believe a similar rigorous process can guide companies toward increased profitablility. “Why aren’t you guys doing this?” he asked, pointing to a host of metrics that supported his presentation. 

A day-two panel with McCormack, Shipulski, Ned O’Donovan of Rensselaer Polytechnic, and Chris Tsai of Global Productivity, Inc. turned into an animated discussion of insourcing, and offshoring.  While the offshoring trend still continues, the panel seemed to agree that U.S. based design might help stem the flow of job losses before bringing manufacturing back via targeted cost reductions. Intellectual property issues and the chinese culture of engineering were also discussed.