Design for manufacturing (US Site), also referred to as design for manufacturability or DFM, is the process of incorporating restrictions that may be present from intended manufacturing methods into the product/part models during the initial design stages. This helps reduce the need for rework when a product is ready to be manufactured.
An example of applying DFM is when designing a part of which the intent is to manufacture using injection moulding. Design restrictions such as undercuts, parting lines and mould cavity filling need to be considered prior to a mould being built. If these are not addressed prior to mould building, the potential is high for issues like parts stuck in the mould cavity, poor part quality and very expensive tooling.
