Manufacturing Engineering Services
Design
For Manufacture & New Product Introduction (NPI)
In order to develop successful commercial products, it is vital that
the manufacturing route is carefully planned and that the manufacturing
engineering is considered as an integral part of the design process.
Design For Manufacture (DFM) is a key consideration in all Plextek product
developments. At the start of any new development programme, Plextek
works closely with the client in planning the manufacture including
the selection of a suitable manufacturing facility, either through an
external subcontract or via the client's own facilities or existing
partnerships. The capability of the selected facility and the anticipated
product volumes will impact directly on the style of design for manufacture
techniques employed.
The extensive manufacturing and production experience within Plextek is
applied to all product developments as part of the company's concurrent
engineering practice. Design engineers and manufacturing engineers work
together to ensure that Plextek designed products transfer effectively
and efficiently from prototype to production. This new
product introduction process is adopted as standard on all Plextek
product developments. We are also able to offer manufacturing consultancy
as a stand alone service.
Re-engineering
As manufacturing techniques and processes develop, existing products often
continue to be manufactured in the original way and don't benefit from
manufacturing improvements. Priority for engineering resource is often
devoted to new product design whilst existing products remain unsupported.
In some cases a review of current manufacturing techniques/processes
may result in improved yield, lower unit cost or higher through rate.
Plextek's skilled engineering consultants are willing to make an initial
study of an existing product and where appropriate, supply a proposal
of work to "re-engineer" the design, often providing a step
function improvement in manufacturing cost.
Operations
Our consultants have extensive industrial experience particularly in the
areas of electronics and electro-mechanical manufacture, from strategic
operations to line development. This broad based knowledge allows Plextek
to offer "hands-on" support across most areas of manufacturing
management, including global procurement strategies, factory capitalisation
studies and local & international manufacture.
Independent Services
Plextek offers Manufacturing Engineering
as an independent consultancy service, which can be contracted to review any
client design, whether in development, or possibly already in production.
The following are examples of some of the services that can be provided:-
- Supplier development & assessment
- New process development and mechanical
design
- Value engineering
- Kaizan, a continuous improvement exercise that can reap benefits
in all areas
- Design for manual assembly (DFMA) analysis
- Lean manufacture studies
- Capacity modelling & product flow simulation
- Line planning and design
If you would like to discuss your requirements in more detail please contact
us.
