DFE - Europe

• Arguably leading this area

  • At least historically.

• Most larger companies all seem to have some expertise in it

  • Seen now by many as "just another Design for X" to be done, but (still) lower in priority to technical and economical concerns.
  • Fits in concept of lean manufacture ? avoid waste.
  • Low hanging fruits can easily be identified using existing DFE tools/practices.

• Even in Europe's large companies, getting practicing engineers to do DFE can be a problem.

• Trade-off and detailed analyses are still difficult to do.

• Trials with implementing DFE in Small & Medium-Size Enterprises have been conducted in Netherlands and Sweden.

  • Current tools are good enough to get them started.
  • Self-motivation and sustaining of effort is difficult ? SME may not see business advantage or simply has no time.