Boothroyd Dewhurst, Inc.

20 世纪 70 年代初，马萨诸塞大学教授 Geoffrey Boothroyd 及其同事开始研究 DFMA ®软件的基础。最初的目标是为设计人员提供一种量化产品设计的技术，以便于自动组装。这种方法扩展到包括手动装配，以便制造工程师可以为自动化建议提供理由。该方法的两个基本原则是：

通过减少零件数量来减少装配操作次数
使装配操作更容易执行
这些原则与当时占主导地位的“可生产性准则”形成鲜明对比。可生产性指南指导设计人员专注于简化各个零件，以便更容易制造且成本更低。Boothroyd 博士的开创性研究揭示了这样一个事实：相对于使用更少的多功能部件，这种做法实际上导致产品成本大幅提高。

DFMA®软件​

这项研究发表后，商业实施成为人们非常感兴趣的话题。1980 年，Peter Dewhurst 博士与 Boothroyd 博士一起为 Apple II Plus 创建了软件包“自动和手动组装设计”(DFA)。随后 IBM 和 Digital Equipment 产生了兴趣，为 PC 版本提供了资金，并于 1983 年成立了 Boothroyd Dewhurst Inc.。福特和通用汽车等大公司估计，他们通过 DFA 节省了数十亿美元。

随着人们对 DFA 软件的兴趣不断扩大，人们对准确了解与其相关的成本节约的兴趣也在增加。1985年，博士。Boothroyd 和 Dewhurst 进行了进一步的研究，添加了“制造设计”(DFM) 模块。DFM 可以对各种设计方案进行早期且准确的成本估算。这两个模块组合在一起形成了现在所谓的 DFMA ®。DFMA ®软件为领先制造商带来的巨大优势促使乔治·HW·布什总统于 1991 年授予 BDI 创始人国家技术奖章。

今天

Boothroyd Dewhurst Inc. 40 多年来一直致力于开发 DFMA ®软件工具。那时，DFMA ®已帮助数百家公司以比以前更低的成本和更高的质量生产产品。BDI 的遗产如今通过总裁 Nicholas Dewhurst 和执行副总裁 Keith Gilligan 得以延续。

In the early 1970s, University of Massachusetts Professor Geoffrey Boothroyd and his colleagues began research on what would become the basis for the DFMA® software.  Initially, the goal was to provide designers with a technique to quantify product designs for the ease of automatic assembly.  This approach was expanded to include manual assembly so that manufacturing engineers could make justifications for automation proposals.  The two basic principles of this methodology were:

Reduce the number of assembly operations by reducing the number of parts
Make the assembly operations easier to perform
These principles stood in stark contrast to the dominant “producibility guidelines” of the time.  Producibility guidelines directed designers to focus on simplifying individual parts so they were easier to manufacture and cost less.  Dr. Boothroyd’s ground-breaking research exposed the fact that this practice actually led to substantially higher product costs relative to the use of fewer, multi-functional parts.

DFMA® Software

Upon publication of this research, commercial implementation became a topic of great interest.  In 1980, Dr. Peter Dewhurst joined Dr. Boothroyd to create the software package “Design for Automatic and Manual Assembly” (DFA) for the Apple II Plus.  Subsequent interest from IBM and Digital Equipment led to the funding of a PC version, as well as the incorporation of Boothroyd Dewhurst Inc. in 1983.  Major companies such as Ford and General Motors estimated that they were saving billions of dollars through DFA.

As interest in DFA software expanded, so did interest in achieving precise knowledge of the cost savings associated with it.  In 1985, Drs. Boothroyd and Dewhurst conducted further research that allowed for a “Design for Manufacture” (DFM) module to be added.  DFM allowed early and accurate should-cost estimates to be made of various design proposals.  Together, the two modules combined to form what is now known as DFMA®.  The enormous benefits that DFMA® software provided to leading manufacturers led President George H. W. Bush to award the founders of BDI the National Medal of Technology in 1991.

Present Day

Boothroyd Dewhurst Inc. has continued to develop the DFMA® software tool for over 40 years.  In that time, DFMA® has helped hundreds of companies manufacture products at lower cost and with higher quality than was previously possible.  The legacy of BDI continues today through President Nicholas Dewhurst and Executive Vice President Keith Gilligan.