Development and utilization of a DFMA-evaluation matrix for comparing the level of modularity and standardization in clamping systems

Abstract

The advantages of standardization and modularization for manufacturing-friendly design are widely acknowledged. In design assessment, numerical evaluation forms are commonly used to evaluate both manufacturability and assembility. This article combines these two perspectives and proposes a tool enabling the evaluation and comparison of alternative constructions based on modularity, standardization, manufacturability and assembility. The first part introduces a DFMA-evaluation matrix which considers an assembly's suitability for modularization or standardization. The second part is preliminary validation of the results which includes accuracy measurements from the selected fixturing system. The evaluation matrix proves to be a working evaluation method for evaluating levels of modularity and standardization.