DEGREE PROJECT IN MECHANICAL ENGINEERING, SECOND CYCLE, 30 CREDITS STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN 2018 Implementing Design For Automatic Assembly A recommendation on how to implement and apply DFAA at Company Y FILIPPA VON YXKULL KTH ROYAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY SCHOOL OF INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING AND MANAGEMENT Implementing Design For Automatic Assembly A recommendation on how to implement and apply DFAA at Company Y Filippa von Yxkull Master of Science Thesis TPRMM: 2018: KTH Production Engineering and Management Industrial Production SE-100 44 STOCKHOLM Abstract The need to work with Design for Automatic Assembly (DFAA) has been widely recognized in the literature. However, the implementation of DFAA is not clearly defined. Therefore, the purpose of this master thesis is to investigate and contribute with knowledge of how DFAA should be implemented into an organization, such as Company Y. Several interviews have been conducted to establish a current state analysis, to receive an understanding of the current problems at Company Y and how to address them. A benchmarking study was conducted, where the three companies Ericsson, Company X and Scania were interviewed. All three companies have successfully implemented DFA and were interviewed with the purpose to obtaining their best practices. The study also included an early implementation of DFAA, where a software based DFA2-method created by Eskilander (2001) was tested on a current product and a new developed design concept at Company Y. Based on this a recommended workflow of the evaluation could be attained. Based on the empirical gatherings several recommendations of how DFAA should be implemented into the organization could be made. The study highlights that DFAA should be applied as early as possible in the product development process. The DFA2-method should be utilized at product level to facilitate concept selection and at part level to make the products/modules suited for automatic assembly, before the design is “locked” and before a physical prototype is created. The departments that should be working with DFAA includes individuals from production, design quality and purchasing. However, once DFA becomes rooted in the company, more functions in the company’s supply chain will become affected. This means that more functions might need to be included in the work of DFAA. Finally, the study includes a decision model, in which the decisions are based on the measurable values received from the DFA2-method. Key words: DFAA, DFA, Product design, Assembly process, assemblability I Sammanfattning Behovet av att arbeta med Design for Automatic Assembly (DFAA) har uppmärksammat i litteraturen. Däremot har implementeringen av DFAA inte blivit tydligt definierat. Syftet med detta examensarbete blir således att undersöka och bidra med kunskap om hur DFAA ska implementeras i en organisation, så som Företag Y. Flera intervjuer har genomförts för att upprätta en nuvarandeanalys för att få förståelse för de rådande problemen hos Company Y och hur dessa ska hanteras. En benchmarkingstudie genomfördes, där de tre företagen Ericsson, Company X och Scania intervjuades. Alla tre företagen har framgångsrikt implementerat DFA och har intervjuats med syftet att erhålla deras bästa praxis. Studien innefattar även en tidig implementering av DFAA, där en mjukvarubaserad DFA2-metod skapad av Eskilander (2001), har testats på en aktuell produkt och ett nytt utvecklat koncept på Company Y. Baserat på detta kunde ett rekommenderat arbetsflöde av utvärderingen presenteras. Baserat på empiriska studien kunde flera rekommendationer gällande hur DFAA ska implementeras i en organisation skapas. Studien belyser att DFAA bör tillämpas så tidigt som möjligt i produktutvecklingsprocessen. DFA2-metoden bör utnyttjas på produktnivå för att underlätta konceptvalet och på komponentnivå för att göra produkterna/modulerna lämpade för automatisk montering, detta innan designen är "låst" och innan en fysisk prototyp har konstruerats. Avdelningar som ska arbeta med DFAA inkluderar produktion, designkvalitet och inköp. När DFA blir rotad i företaget kommer dock fler funktioner i företagets supply chain att påverkas. Det innebär att fler funktioner kan behöva inkluderas med arbetet kring DFAA. Slutligen så inkluderar studien en beslutsmodell relaterat till DFAA. Besluten baseras på de mätbara värden från DFA2-metoden. Nyckelord: DFA, DFAA, produkt design, monteringsprocess, monterbarhet II Table of contents Abstract .............................................................................................................................. I Sammanfattning ................................................................................................................. II 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Background ........................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Problem Formulation ............................................................................................................. 2 1.3 Purpose & Research Question ................................................................................................ 2 1.4 Delimitations ......................................................................................................................... 3 1.5 Study’s Expected Contribution ............................................................................................... 3 1.6 Disposition ............................................................................................................................ 4 2. Literature & Theory ........................................................................................................ 5 2.1 Definitions ............................................................................................................................. 5 2.1.1 Assembly ................................................................................................................................ 5 2.1.2 Concurrent engineering ......................................................................................................... 6 2.1.3 DFX ......................................................................................................................................... 6 2.1.4 DFA ........................................................................................................................................ 7 2.2 DFA methods ......................................................................................................................... 9 2.2.1 Boothroyd’s & Dewhurst’s DFMA Method .......................................................................... 10 2.2.2 DFA2, Design For Automatic Assembly method .................................................................. 12 2.3 Implementation of DFA ....................................................................................................... 16 2.4 Impact DFA has on the future of manufacturing .................................................................. 19 2.4.1 Modularity in respect to DFA ............................................................................................... 19 2.4.2 Evolvable assembly systems ................................................................................................ 21 3. Method ........................................................................................................................ 22 3.1 Research Design & process .................................................................................................. 22 3.2 Primary Sources ................................................................................................................... 23 3.2.1 Pre-study ............................................................................................................................. 23 3.2.2 Interviews ............................................................................................................................ 23 3.2.3 Observations ........................................................................................................................ 25 3.2.4 Early implementation of DFA2 ............................................................................................. 25 3.3 Secondary Sources ............................................................................................................... 26 3.4 Quality of Analysis ............................................................................................................... 27 3.4.1 Reliability ............................................................................................................................. 27 3.4.2 Validity ................................................................................................................................. 28 3.5 Ethical considerations .......................................................................................................... 28 4. Benchmarking .............................................................................................................. 30 4.1 Ericsson ............................................................................................................................... 30 4.1.1 Reasons for working with DFA ............................................................................................. 30 4.1.2 Choice of DFA method ........................................................................................................