Principle 2

Within the product design stage, Chain-Ray uses DFx, the idea of "Design for Excellence."

Different aspects of the product life cycle, “x,” are considered in advance. These include manufacturing, assembly, inspection, repair, cost, environment, and more. From the very beginning of the design process, we look at all aspects, designing for “x.”

Why should the DFx principle matter to you? Imagine that when repairing a product, you discover that the screws on the back of the product are too small, and there are far too many, taking a great deal of time and energy to disassemble the product. Or, perhaps the cheapest possible product material was originally chosen, without understanding that the manufacturing and processing costs of this material were too expensive.

The bottom line is that these problems can be avoided by adhering to the DFx design principle, allowing

• The number of changes to product drawing to be reduced
• The product time to market to be shortened
• The overall product cost to be reduced
• The product quality and reliability to be increased

By solving problems early in the design stage, you don’t have to be concerned about letting a defective product enter the market.

Some examples of DFx in action are as follows:

• Product Design for Manufacturing (DFM)
  The manufacturing aspect of product design refers to the manufacturing and processing technology of mechanical parts, such as plastic injection molding, metal fabrication, metal die casting, metal powder metallurgy, metal lost wax casting, metal injection molding, and others. However, the precision, cost, and difficulty of each manufacturing technology are different, and customers must be informed on whether the desired product can be manufactured in the appropriate manner. Therefore, the integration of manufacturing and processing technology into the design stage can help customers reduce manufacturing costs, shorten the time of manufacturing and processing, and ensure that the desired products can be manufactured and mass-produced.

• Product Design for Assembly (DFA)
  Already at the start of the design stage, assembly considerations must be included. Because manufacturing and assembly are complementary, they are critical parts of the DFx process -- referred to as DFM/A. In doing so, we reduce the number of assembling components or the assembling method of simple components, which will improve assembly efficiency, reduce assembly failure rates and costs, and maintain assembly quality.

• Product Design for Inspection (DFI)
  Compared to DFM/A (manufacturing and assembly), DFI (Design for Inspection) is the most often overlooked aspect of the DFX process. Without proper consideration, it can cause customers to face a huge increase in costs in the later stages of manufacturing. As such, it is included in the design stage for inspection, which ensures that the mechanical parts are easy to be tested and meet the requirements of international standards. In fact, Chain-Ray has rich experience in inspecting even the smallest of mechanical parts -- think of the size of a 1 yuan coin and smaller!

• Product Design for Maintenance (DFR)
  DFR (Design for Repair), also known as DFS (Design for Service), is an idea in which consumers pay more and more attention to after-sales service from manufacturers. It also means that in addition to the consideration of improving maintenance efficiency in the product design stage, it ensures the reliability of products and reduces the cost of maintenance services and replacement parts.

• Product Design for Cost (DFC)
  Did you know that product design determines 75%-85% of the product cost? This has made recent companies pay more and more attention to product design for cost, or DFC, in recent years. After all, cost is critical to both product competitiveness and the overall profitability of a company. DFC during the product design stage, in choosing materials, within manufacturing, all the way to assembly, inspections, and maintenance, are all taken into consideration. Chain-Ray also uses cost estimation models for accurate calculations, making it the most effective way to design with cost reduction in mind.
  
  Take materials, for example. If composite materials are chosen based on customer needs, Chain-Ray will determine the appropriate manufacturing and processing methods based on the characteristics of those composite materials. Then, product design for manufacturing (DFM) considerations will be implemented while targeting different manufacturing processes. In a nutshell, that is the idea behind DFC.
  
  In addition, Chain-Ray has a material database that includes more than 25,000 items of plastic material and metal material. Furthermore, we offer the benefit of more than 200 suppliers all over the world along with our internal engineering team, here to help you with everything from product design to mass production. Chain-Ray can provide customers with the most satisfactory cost effectiveness at each stage.

• Product Design for Environment (DFE)
  From the United Nations initiative of consumer emphasis on environmental sustainability, the DFE (Design for Environment) principle has become an excellent tool for companies to improve environmental performance and increase green competitiveness. Therefore, the DFE principle should always be incorporated.
  
  In fact, all manufacturers who want to sell their products to any country within the EU must obtain a CE certification. Furthermore, the ErP test contained therein requires manufacturers to disclose their product life cycle assessment reports on the environmental impact in order to improve the environmental performance of their products. Fortunately, products designed in accordance with the DFE principle will naturally meet the ErP testing standards, allowing the products to be sold in the EU without any further concerns.

Details are of vital importance when it comes to DFx. The implementation of the DFx principles relies on the rich experience of engineers. Chain-Ray insists that the mechanical design engineers working in the company must have 8-10 years of relevant work experience. Chain-Ray design engineers also work in conjunction with our mold engineers, process engineers, and quality engineers. Chain-Ray can provide customers with detailed and comprehensive design services so that new products can take into account quality, efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and maintain high levels of customer satisfaction.