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Yikes: "Design for Asian Manufacture (DFAM)"

By Allan Chochinov - August 19, 2005

in Object Culture

A good, immersive piece at Modern Plastics, called Design focus: Industrial design, aesthetics produce easier-sell products. Here's a taste: In terms of product design, getting it right in Asia may actually be different from getting it right in the West. Titoma promotes what it calls Design for Asian Manufacture (DFAM), a concept it's actually trademarked that entails designing a product to take advantage of the unique cost benefits that droves of low-cost labor can afford a part. In the West, as wages increased, and often to compete with Asia, designers sought methods to replace labor-intensive assembly features likes screws, using snap-fits instead. The snap-fits usually require a more complex, costly tool (undercuts, etc.), and they also necessitated a robust molding process due to tight tolerances. In DFAM, removal of flash or screwing or gluing together housings, for example, is back in the designer's arsenal, offering clients' designs the option of exploiting the labor advantage that beckoned many brand owners in the first place. [Thanks to Heidi for sending this in.]

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Yikes: "Design for Asian Manufacture (DFAM)"

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