We support you in optimizing your product design by means of specific design analyses, planning NPI management and initiating the industrialization of your product.
We utilize DFx (Design for Excellence) methods from the process development stage to industrialize the product during the product development. Our processes ensure the ideal interplay between product and process development, thanks to simultaneous engineering. We examine a number of scenarios based on the customer’s specific requirements and use them to create the best possible production concept. We use tools from the digital factory, simulations, as well as methods such as MTM and value stream design, among others, to develop the digital production system and optimize it for the product on a digital model during the planning phase. The production system is planned and implemented in partnership with our external and internal partners on the basis of the digital product and production system. Our processes help us complete product and process qualification during the individual sample phases in the lead-up to ramp-up in a way that caters to the specific requirements of our customers. When implementing a new product, we keep a constant eye on the time-to-market during the industrialization phase.
A holistic inspection of the design phase in the context of product development offers a wide range of competitive advantages for our customers. By focusing on quality and efficiency, we are not only able to optimize material, construction and testing costs as early as the design phase by means of a wide range of analyses, but also ensure a shortened time-to-market phase and a minimization of defective assemblies, redesigns and the risk of obsolescence. Moreover, gaps in test coverage can also be filled in advance. Optimizing product design from the outset is the ideal way to make a sustainable impact on time, cost, and quality before it goes into the procurement phase.
During the DfA process, we analyze the manufacturing steps of an existing module, device, or system – more specifically, with the aid of 3D data – taking into account manual and automated assembly activities as well as compliance with the ProKon (production-oriented design) framework to avoid costs right at product development stage. The added values a DfA process provides are also reflected in the industrialization stage in order to be able to effectively produce the module, device, or system. In addition, we also use the DfA process as an aid to consider economic aspects of production and assembly as well as transport and work processes. During the process, potential sources of error are identified before starting series production and tools are reduced.
We use DfM to create a software-based simulation of individual PCBs with the aim of providing information on components and pads that may cause problems in the manufacturing process, the product design, manufacturability with the existing machinery, as well as errors in the design, layout, and customer data before starting production. Benefits for our customers generated via DfM include checking aspects of manufacturability, reducing tombstone effects, identifying showstoppers in the layout, and verifying that correct component sizes have been loaded.
Software-supported DfT analyses of individual PCBs enable us to show improvements in layout and design, as well as suggest an optimum test strategy. Combining multiple test systems in the simulation helps to keep the error rate as small as possible and thereby gauge the reality of the situation as best as possible. The result can also be used to determine the ppm rates in advance. Maximum test coverage and at the same time minimum redundancy in the DfT process, as well as suggestions for improvement regarding what was tested, provide the ideal test.
We use DtC as a systematic approach to controlling costs. Using the DfM, DfT, and DfA processes can also help show where costs arise and where there is potential for saving costs. In this way, we reliably ensure the cost-effectiveness of process and product development in advance, as well as compliance with the defined cost targets throughout the entire product life cycle. As such, both time-to-market and total cost of ownership can be reduced.