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Most companies are pursuing strategies that increase their economic strength and make them more competitive within the evolutionary aircraft industry. The Boeing Company has adopted a number of initiatives in order to accomplish smart designs within its lean design efforts. There is a need to revolutionize the product development process from concept to product support. Lean Design is one of these initiatives which is supported by Design For Manufacture and Assembly (DFMA). DFMA has provided the basic analytical and philosophical approach for design processes to minimize costs while maintaining a high product quality standard (e.g. [1]). This paper will document three different cases which show an average part count reduction of 41 percent and cost saving reduction of 52 percent as well as hardware, manufacturing, assembly/installation time, and weight reductions.

This study examines the effectiveness of Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DFMA) methodology used by the design, manufacturing, quality, and supporting engineers for the development of the Longbow Apache Helicopter. Data were obtained through the Integrated Product Development (IPD) team for several redesigned areas of the Longbow prototype Helicopter Crew Station. Results of the study show that DFMA can be an effective design approach, as indicated by a significant cost and weight savings.