DFMA Supporter of the Year at the 2016 International Forum on DFMA® Goes to Kohler Engineer

(Left) Bill Devenish, Principal Engineer-Global DFx at the Kohler Company, with his “Distinguished DFMA Supporter of the Year” award. Devenish’s colleague Stephanie Freier (middle) and Matthieu Da Rocha (right), attended the 2016 Boothroyd Dewhurst International Forum on Design for Manufacture and Assembly to learn more about implementing DFMA in an organization. (Photo: Business Wire)

WAKEFIELD, R.I.--()--Bill Devenish, Principal Engineer-Global DFx at the Kohler Company, accepted the “Distinguished DFMA Supporter of the Year Award” at the Boothroyd Dewhurst 2016 International Forum on Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DFMA®) in Providence, R.I.

The Forum is the foremost conference worldwide on DFMA methodologies and software. This year’s theme was “DFMA Design Decision: Understanding Total Product Cost.”

Devenish, who spoke about “Understanding Engineers” at this year’s Forum, is recognized for his long history of finding innovative solutions that lead to milestone cost reductions and market excellence for the companies he serves. Devenish was acknowledged by Boothroyd Dewhurst, Inc. for his work within various manufacturing organizations and for his role in consistently educating the larger engineering community about DFMA.

Of many notable achievements discussed at the 2016 DFMA “Design Decision” Forum was Woodward Inc.’s progress in showing the value of data-driven cost models within their supply chain. Speakers Chris Platz and Jeff Durham discussed the company’s pursuit of an “open book” mindset of collaborating with suppliers to actively work through key cost variables and mutually identify design and process alternatives. As a result, RFQ/Selection/ESI/PO launch cycles have shrunk by half.

Likewise, Dynisco’s Matt Miles illustrated the far-reaching benefits of engaging the supply chain in transparent costing and design. The Dynisco business model includes full supplier collaboration and rigorous competitive benchmarking, leading to an understanding of Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) that includes not only manufacturing but shipping-, IP- and currency-risk factors as well.

“The 2016 DFMA Forum sought to answer questions every organization faces about achieving optimal product function, time-to-market and cost,” said John Gilligan, president of Boothroyd Dewhurst. “Manufacturers can meet all three challenges if they start their efforts earlier in design and use DFMA with other methods, such as Value Engineering, Lean and TCO.”

DFMA product simplification and cost estimating allow engineers to scrutinize parts and assemblies for structural efficiency, guiding them toward the creation of single, multifunctional components with significantly improved performance-to-cost ratios. Development teams can also examine competing materials and processes and quantitatively judge the cost trade-offs of producing new designs or improving existing products.

The resulting elegant, highly economical products enable companies to better reach their Lean, Value Engineering and TCO goals by increasing manufacturing throughput and reducing the organizational footprint that products make in their journey from design workstation to factory floor—and on to the customer.

DFMA® is a registered trademark of Boothroyd Dewhurst, Inc.

Contacts

Editorial contact:
Parker Group
Miles Parker and Lynn Manning, 401-272-1510
team@parkergroup.com

Release Summary

The 2016 "Distinguished DFMA Supporter of the Year Award," given at the Boothroyd Dewhurst International Forum on Design for Manufacture and Assembly, went to a Kohler Company engineer.

Contacts

Editorial contact:
Parker Group
Miles Parker and Lynn Manning, 401-272-1510
team@parkergroup.com