{"id":2758,"date":"2011-05-26T11:56:59","date_gmt":"2011-05-26T11:56:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zukenblog.wpengine.com\/?p=2758"},"modified":"2023-05-12T14:13:04","modified_gmt":"2023-05-12T18:13:04","slug":"the-3-essential-steps-to-realizing-dama-design-anywhere-manufacture-anywhere-within-your-organization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zuken.com\/us\/blog\/the-3-essential-steps-to-realizing-dama-design-anywhere-manufacture-anywhere-within-your-organization\/","title":{"rendered":"The 3 Essential Steps to Realizing DAMA (Design Anywhere, Manufacture Anywhere) Within Your Organization"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m back once more to share with you my final blog post on DAMA – Design Anywhere, Manufacture Anywhere – and its impact on Electronics design.<\/p>\n

This time I want to talk to you more about the realities of implementing this approach starting with the initial audit process and understanding the real payback.<\/p>\n

Creating a DAMA capable enterprise<\/strong><\/h2>\n

1) The importance of a detailed audit<\/strong><\/h3>\n

No one said auditing was fun, but there is no playing dodge ball on this one. It\u2019s really important to gain a deep understanding of the structure and organization of the current enterprise and this doesn\u2019t mean sitting back and delving around in your IT structures. I\u2019m talking here about interviewing engineers, purchasing staff, manufacturing managers and general management. Yes that\u2019s correct, actually talking to them \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

2) Mapping capabilities to create a gap analysis<\/strong><\/h3>\n

This involves mapping the organization\u2019s capabilities against best-practice objectives to perform a gap analysis for each category analyzed. What I\u2019m saying is, compare what you\u2019re doing and what you\u2019re capable of doing against what you should be doing and see where the gap is \u2013 simple\u2026um no, but it sounds it doesn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n

To make it really hold weight, the categories you are reviewing should be weighted so that you understand the systems and processes that have the greatest impact on the business \u2013 and these are then reflected in your conclusions.<\/p>\n

In Zuken\u2019s experience, 60%-65% of DAMA-related problems at customer sites can be resolved by harmonizing business processes, whereas less than 5% can be addressed by tackling issues related to the CAD environment in isolation. Even at the overall IT level, only 30%-35% of the problems can be solved.<\/em><\/p>\n

Audit starts at the engineering level
\n<\/strong>The starting point for the audit is always at the engineering level. You probably already know or suspect this, but in practice, most problems arise due to poor information feedback into design development departments, or lack of vertical integration with other business processes. So whatever the solution, this will need to be addressed at the heart of it.<\/p>\n

At this point the IT guys\/gals usually step in. When they are convinced of the potential return-on-investment of changing the way the enterprise operates, they take these financial arguments to senior managers who can authorize and champion the changes. But the battle is not yet won – a negative attitude towards this change at the engineering level can really hamper the process. So it\u2019s important that a positive attitude is created and maintained. You need to win over the hearts and minds of each person, so they appreciate the benefits to the enterprise as a whole \u2013 particularly if they personally will be affected by changes in their day-to-day work.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s take Joe Blogs, he is happy doing his day to day work and then Mr Manager steps in and says, \u2018sorry pal but we need to change the way you\u2019re doing this because it\u2019s going to save us money\u2019. <\/em><\/p>\n

Maybe in the short term it is a painful process of learning new methods, taking him out of his comfort zone and causing him stress – naturally he is going to be just a tiny bit resistant (even if he doesn\u2019t admit it to you). Perhaps he has been doing it this way for years and believes that if it\u2019s not broke don\u2019t fix it. <\/em><\/p>\n

Hey honestly, from his perspective, who can blame him? OK, so take the time out to help him appreciate how much of a positive impact he will be having on the company by doing this.<\/em><\/p>\n

3) Harmonizing design tools, components and manufacturing<\/strong><\/h3>\n

So the talking, documenting, comparing and general analysis is complete. The next step is harmonizing your design tools, components and manufacturing. This needs to be company-wide (or else it kind of defeats the point of the change) and a centralized database needs to be created that holds all data, starting with component and library objects.<\/p>\n

In parallel, the necessary vertical integration links should be created to other IT systems within the enterprise and an engineering portal should be created to complement existing business portals.<\/p>\n

What is the payback?<\/h2>\n

Of course, no enterprise is going to make such wide-ranging investments and changes to its business processes without the potential for a quantifiable return on investment – I\u2019m talking big bucks.<\/p>\n

Over the years my colleagues and I have worked with well over a hundred companies to achieve DAMA capabilities and the initial investment is normally returned within about two years.<\/p>\n

Cost savings<\/strong>
\nBut the bottom-line benefits related to cost savings are only part of the story. If you are able to design anywhere and manufacture anywhere you are going to benefit from shorter product development cycles and a reduction of data re-entry and re-creation.<\/p>\n

Then think of the physical waste – scrap, rework and unusable prototypes that will be avoided. If you\u2019re working with expensive materials this is a considerable saving. And then don\u2019t forget the costs that will be reduced relating to…<\/p>\n