Key Takeaways
- September marks the time when key product decisions are made, locking in most costs for years.
- The earliest design decisions can be the most expensive, often related to components and manufacturing processes.
- Design for manufacture (DFM) emphasizes early collaboration with manufacturing partners to avoid costly changes later.
- Involve your electronics manufacturing partner before finalizing designs to address potential issues proactively.
- DFM helps ensure reliable, repeatable, and economical product builds by focusing on component selection, assembly layout, and testing strategies.
September always feels like the real start of the year. It is also when a great many electronics products get quietly decided.
Everyone is back, the diaries fill up, and the plans that were vague in July suddenly need numbers against them. Somewhere in that fortnight, next year’s product stops being an idea and starts being a specification.
Not launched. Decided. The board layout, the component choices, the enclosure, the test strategy. All of it gets locked in over the next few weeks, and most of the cost of that product for the next five years gets locked in with it.
The most expensive design decisions are made the earliest
By the time a design reaches a contract electronics manufacturer as a finished drawing with a fixed launch date, the expensive decisions have already been taken. Not the obviously expensive ones. The quiet ones.
- A connector chosen for its footprint that turns out to be awkward to place reliably on the line
- A component with a lead time that will not survive the launch date it was specified for
- A test strategy that looks complete on paper and costs yield in practice
- An enclosure decision that adds minutes to every build, multiplied by every unit for the life of the product
None of these are design errors. They are the ordinary consequence of designing without a view of how the thing will actually be made.
What design for manufacture actually looks like
Design for manufacture, or DFM, is not a review stage at the end. It is a conversation that starts while the design can still change.
Component selection and lifecycle
Availability, lifecycle status and qualified alternatives assessed at design stage rather than at the second build. Obsolescence is a present problem, not a future one, and it moves faster in some component families than most design teams expect.
Layout and assembly
Where the board design helps or hinders automated assembly, test access and rework. Small placement decisions compound across every unit built.
Test strategy
Functional and in-circuit test developed alongside the build rather than bolted on afterwards, so coverage is designed in and yield is protected.
Enclosure and build time
How mechanical decisions affect build time, repeatability and cost per unit across the product’s whole production life.
When to involve your electronics manufacturing partner
Earlier than feels necessary. The conversations that go well are the ones that start while the design is still moving. The ones that go badly start with a finished drawing and a fixed date.
Early supplier involvement costs nothing at the point it is most useful, and it is the only stage at which the advice can still change the outcome.
Get it right from the start
It is one of our values. It is also, straightforwardly, the cheapest thing on this list.
Frequently asked questions
What is design for manufacture in electronics?
Design for manufacture is the practice of designing a product so that it can be built reliably, repeatably and economically. In electronics it covers component selection and availability, board layout and placement, test access and coverage, and mechanical assembly.
When should a contract electronics manufacturer be involved in a design?
Before the design is finished. Once a drawing is complete and a launch date is fixed, most of the cost and risk has already been committed, and the manufacturer can only work around decisions rather than improve them.
How does DFM affect the cost of an electronics product?
Most of a product’s lifetime cost is determined at design stage through component choices, build time per unit and test yield. Changes made during design are inexpensive. The same changes made after qualification are not.
Talk to us before the design is finished.
NOTE UK provides end-to-end electronics manufacturing services across six UK sites, covering development, prototyping, sourcing, manufacturing, and after-sales and end of life support. We are certified to ISO 9001, ISO 13485, ISO 14001, ISO 45001, ISO 27001 and AS9100 across our UK sites.