DFMA-Aspects of sheet metal product in case of low-

cost strategy
Merja Huhtala, Anna-Niina Räsänen, Mika Lohtander, Harri Eskelinen, Juha Varis
Lappeenranta University of Technology
LUT-Mechanical
Lappeenranta, Finland
merja.huhtala@lut.fi
anna-niina.rasanen@lut.fi
mika.lohtander@lut.fi
harri.eskelinen@lut.fi
juha.varis@lut.fi

Abstract— This document is illustration of one real sheet metal
product, which manufacturing is really challenging and many
problems occur in production. In this paper there is given some
point of views, which should be take into consideration before the
part can be produced without (or some minimal) problems.
Keywords-component; DFMA,sheet metal, burr, concurrent
engineering
I. INTRODUCTION
Nowadays companies have to have capability to act fast if
capacity changes are needed. The intent is to have
competitiveness against competitors. That is to gain
competitive advantage which is basically gained in
manufacturing environment by proper manufacturing strategy.
The competitive advantage of manufacturing strategy is usually
based on low-costs or differentiation. In Finnish manufacturing
environment the low-cost approach have been the most
profitable since product family usually already exist. The low-
cost strategy has led to decouple of certain operations to third
parties. The most frequent destinations for these outsourcings
have been Asia and new EU member states where labor costs
are still quite low. The transfer of manufacturing or even the
use of subcontractors in developing countries is not a matter of
course. There are also cases where the whole outsourcing
crusade has had a very costly ending.
II. AIM OF STUDY
The frame of this work is a cost-oriented DFMA-approach,
which aims to control and manage both the product design and
manufacturing process together with its costs. The purpose of
this paper is to study variables which should be considered
when manufacturing of a certain demanding product is
transferred successfully in global networks accordingly low-
cost strategy.
A. DFMA
Design for manufacturing and assembly is an approach,
which tries to maximize quality and in same time minimize the
production costs and cycle time. It includes simple rules which
can be used to minimize design complexity and even give
better manufacturability for product. Many simple rules are
related to minimize the number of parts, but in this studied case
this rule is not the important one. DFMA also commit on
tolerances. Tolerances and accuracies should not be too tight;
otherwise it may be impossible to manufacture the part. In
large parts should design be as simple as possible, this means
e.g. the help of symmetry. In this case the advantage is gained
in two ways: it is easy to design and quite simple to produce.
Of course all are every time dependent on the structure.
Designer cannot design good product if there is no knowledge
about manufacturing processes and machine tools. [1, pp. 69-
73.]
DFMA aspect starts from design. All dimensions,
tolerances etc. have to be set correct in the drawing. Without
correct information it is almost impossible to manufacture part,
at least not well or reproducible. Development of drawings
should be continuous so that improvements can be done to the
drawings. Cooperation between designer and manufacturing
plant is thus very important. Designer also has to think are all
the holes, shapes etc. really required; and is it possible to
design a part of product without knowing the main function of
the machine and the machine tools that are available in
manufacturing plant? This may be the main issue in some
cases; nowadays the designers may work in other country than
where the exact part is going to be produced. Maybe it is not
possible to know what kinds of processes are available.
Though according to DFMA-principles redesign should be
avoided, sometimes it would be better to redesign the product
than try to solve problems in production. Material selection,
process selection and modular design should be taking into
consideration. Sometimes just chancing the material can solve,
for example, problems in punching. Designer has to also think
which processes are suitable for manufacturing of designed
part or its shapes. It can be challenging, but the designer can
always add comments into drawings, e.g. if laser should be
used to make the holes on the plate. [2, pp. 245-246.]

978-1-61284-343-8/11/$26.00 ©2011 IEEE

 III. RESEARCH CASE
The research target is located inside vacuum belt filter.
Studied target is a sheet metal part and later it is called grid.
Grids surface area is several square meters and consists of
thousands of holes in diameter of 10 mm and hundreds of
supporting feet with length of 20 mm. The requirements for
grids surface straightness and feet bending angles are high for
to fulfill the operational requirements of vacuum filter and
moving filter cloth on the grid. The grid is presented in figure
1.
Figure 1. The grid structure (b) and assembly (a) in vacuum belt filter.
Before the manufacturing of the grid is possible to transfer
to global subcontractor, the whole manufacturing operation
should be rationalized and documented properly. This
documentation should include information and working
instructions from proper bending direction of feet to suitable
punching methods for holes. Since the manufacturing of the
grid is not trouble-free even in own production, it is impossible
to follow low-costs approach without a total restructuring of
design and manufacturing operations of the grid.
Variables which have to take into the consideration, when
developing sheet metal grid manufacturing, consist of several
main factors. In this study these factors are technical
knowledge, manufacturing methods, quality, process-product
structure, regulations, reliability and stocking. All those main
factors consist also several subfactors. For example main factor
quality consists following subfactors; material certificates,
manufacturing standards, customer’s requirements and
tolerances.
It is also important to know the manufacturing method. In
many cases the actual design process happens in other place
than the actual manufacturing process will be. For best quality,
it is important to know what kind of machine is used. Quality is
also affected by the education of the workers in the
manufacturing plant. Do they have enough knowledge to
manufacture sheet metal parts? For example it is important to
know how to punch the holes into the sheet. Insufficient
knowledge of punching order may cause several problems. One
of the main problems is that the sheet bends and doesn’t stay
straight.
A. Studied Material
The sheet metal material is austenitic stainless steel 1.4401
(AISI 316). The cold rolled texture causes anisotropy to
material and thus has an effect on its workability. [3, p 237]
Many material properties (mechanical properties, metallurgical
microstructure, surface condition, thickness, edge condition
etc.) are related to rolling process and its direction. And
because of this rolling direction will have an influence on the
plate forming properties. [4, 5]
B. Requirements of the grid
In the case of our studied steel sheet which processing
consists of bending and punching, there are several methods
and tools to perform these actions. The material properties and
the quality requirements of final product define more or less
the processing methods. The final product should have planar
straightness and good surface quality and thus temperature
deformations of working should be minimized and nor is any
burr acceptable on the top surface of the sheet. Figure 2 shows
the primary and secondary requirements for the filter grid.
Figure 2. The main requirements in manufacturing of the grid.
The secondary goals are also the most challenging
operations during manufacturing. The most common quality
problems have included uneven bend angles and too high burr
amounts after punching. The planar straightness has also been
difficult to maintain since the sheet is straightened by force
after punching and cutting; during use (filtering) the thermal
effect of filter slurry relaxes these internal stresses and the
forced straightness is lost.
C. Problem areas of grid manufacturing
Accordingly to common bend theory [6], the bending of the
sheet should be done perpendicular to rolling direction (see
figure 3b). With perpendicular bending, the rupture of the cold-
rolled texture can be avoided; worked structure of the sheet is
always more susceptible for cracking along the long grain
boundaries or flattened inclusions in base material (regardless
of the material). Bending in parallel direction with rolling
direction may need larger bend radius for to avoid cracking.
[6] All material properties (chemical composition, mechanical
properties, microstructure, surface condition, thickness, edge
condition etc.) are related to rolling direction. And because of
this, rolling direction has an influence on the formability
properties of the sheet. [5, 7] The rolling direction should be
always known for to make the bending in proper direction thus
achieving required quality.
Figure 3. Bending direction considering rolling direction [modified from 8,
p.441].
Spring-back in stainless steel is bigger than in carbon steel.
The spring back is also related to the material properties like
yield strength and to the thickness of the material. The spring-
back is proportional to strength of the material and at the same
time inversely proportional to sheet thickness, as presented in
figure 4. [9, p. 735] In general, the bending radius must be
always little bigger than the final bend angle. If the bending is
made parallel to the rolling direction, as in figure 6a, the plate
will normally need larger bend radius. [5, 6] The spring back
affects to the needed bend radius so that larger spring back
increases the needed bend radius. The connection between final
bend angle and needed bend radius for few stainless steels are
represented in figure 5. The most important factors affecting
bending parameters are thickness of the plate, bending radius,
yield strength and stress 0.2 % permanent strain. The tool and
its radius are also important factors affecting the bending
result. Usually the best way to define the spring-back is to do
experimental test. [10, p.16-17, 3.]
Figure 4. The connection between spring-back, yield strength and sheet
thickness [Principle from: 9, p. 735].
Figure 5. The connection between bending angle and final bend angle for
common stainless steels. [11, p. 37].
The bending should be taken in consideration also in the
part drawings. For example, if examined the drawings of the
filter grid and especially its support feet in figure 6, some
errors can be noticed at least if considering manufacturability.
It is known that the final dimension of bent foot should be 20
mm, but in drawing the total length of the cut foot, before
bending, is marked to be 20 mm. This leads to a fact that after
bending, the length of the leg will not be 20 mm, it will be less.
Typically 3D-modelling software helps to determine the
allowed numerical values of bending stages for selected
materials. The actual bending angles with suitable bend radius
and tolerances should be also included in drawings for
successful manufacturing.
Figure 6. Dimensions of the feet in drawings [12].
The formal approach to determine the real length of the
single foot is done by calculating it with help of k-factor
(equation (1)). The k-factor is based on the bending radius r,
and the sheet thickness s.
( s)
k = 0.65 + 0.5 ∗ log r (1)
When the k-factor is in known, it is possible to calculate the
needed length with equation (2). In this formula the needed
parameters are: bending radius r, sheet thickness s and bend
angle α.
 ⎛ 180 D − α ⎞ ⎛ s ⎞ results and experimental tests (of University of Lappeenranta).
v = π ∗ ⎜⎜ D
⎟⎟ ∗ ⎜ r + ∗ k ⎟ − 2 ∗ (r − s ) (2) It should be mentioned that in every case the optimum
⎝ 180 ⎠ ⎝ 2 ⎠
punching order have to be determined with help of
experimental tests and that the order in figure 8 may not be
With 2 mm sheet thickness and with k-factor calculated suitable for all situations.
above, the extra length which is needed for bending is 3.87
mm. So, if the length of the un-bended hole is 20 mm, the final
length of the leg would be about 3.9 mm too short. In addition
to formal approach, it is recommended that the final needed
length of the cut should be also defined by experimental tests in
case of every material. [13, p. 15.]
The punching process itself affects burr-generation. There
must be just right clearance between the punch and the die for
to avoid burrs and discontinuities on surfaces. If the clearance
is too small, the shape of the hole on top surface will not be
regular. On the other hand, if the clearance is too big, there will
be lot of burr under the sheet. The effect of clearance is shown
in figure 7. [14, p.3-4.]
Figure 8. Possible punching order. Starting from centre of the grid sheet.

The main idea for the punching order is to start in the

middle of the plate. After that, holes should be punched up and
then down, then left and then right; constantly in every
direction. This should be helping the sheet to remain flat.
The connection between material sheet thickness, yield
strength and bend angle are represented in figure 9, where also
the rolling direction of the sheet is taken into account. This
figure illustrates the ballpark principle how increase of
thickness or yield strength increases the needs for bend angle.
Usually the higher strength materials need higher bend angles.
The cracking susceptibility increases when material thickness
Figure 7. How the clearance affects the shape of the hole [modified from 14, and yield strength increase or when bend angle decreases. As
p. 4]. mentioned earlier, the parallel bending direction is also more
susceptible to cracking behavior than perpendicular bending. It
Depending on the method of the perforation, the piercing
should be mentioned that e.g. the slope of the curve in figure 9
should be done in way that possible burrs are located under the
is not exact and the actual values need further studies with
sheet, so that they would not affect the operational functions of
different materials.
the filter. This means that the perforation should be done from
the top side of the sheet. This may still inflict difficulties in
bending and the sheet may have to be turn between operations,
so even the total working order should be thought carefully
among the usable tools and machines. Another possibility is
that, if burrs are generated, they will be trimmed off. Laser
cutting could be also one possibility for holes and feet. In this
study the punching method for holes is emphasized since it is
the present method.

IV. RESULTS
In punching press program the machine choose always the
shortest way to do the holes. This may be suitable for some
cases, but no in the case of the grid. If the straightness of the
sheet should be flat as possible also after punching, proper
punching order should be used. This will take more time Figure 9. Connection between sheet thickness, bend radius, yield strength
compared to disordered punching, but it results better quality in and bend direction from a view of rolling direction.
sheet straightness. One possibility for proper punching order is
represented in figure 8 and it is based on several research In figure 10 is shown the connection between the tool
clearance and roll-over and burr height. It can be seen that
when the clearance is growing also the height of burr and roll-
over is growing. The same theory can be seen also in figure 7.
It should be noticed that if the manufacturers want to have
numerical values to this diagram, they should run tests with
their manufacturing machine. Although the principle is the
same in every sheet metal punching case, the values may
change between different machines. That is the reason why
experimental test are important to get just right highs of roll-
over and burr.
Figure 10. Connection between roll-over/burr height and clearance [modified:
15, 16, 17].
In general the most important quality aspects which should
be paid attention before working are:
• plate rolling direction is signed into sheet
• sheets are straight (flatness)
• material certification is included
• visible damage is not shown in the sheets.
For example if plate is not straight, there will be problems
in punching press. Machines clamps may not attack to the sheet
properly. In this case the holes will be in wrong place and after
punching all holes the sheet will not be straight.
One solution replacing the feet bending could be the use of
different structure in grid support. Usually with DFMA,
designers try to minimize the number of the parts, but maybe in
this case it would be better to increase the number of the parts.
Because the bending of the feet is a problem it may be solved
by using countersink (figure 11). This how, also the direction
of rolling is not as important factor in manufacturing as it is for
bending. Another option in feet could be the use of stud
welding. In both case the hole punching could be done from
one side. To make manufacturing more friendly and easier the
grid should redesign all over. All the holes in grid should be
placed symmetrically on the grid and pierced with suitable
punching order (e.g. represented earlier). The next procedure
should be the bending of the grid edges. After all holes are
pierced and the grid edges are bent, the rivet assembly can be
done according to figure 11, where the possible rivet assembly
is represented. In this way all the “legs” will be in same length
using flathead rivets. The depth of the taper can be between 60-
80% of material thickness. In case of a stud welding the feet
welding can be carried out also after the grid edge bents. Also
the total cycle time and costs are likely to decrease in both
cases.
Figure 11. Principle of counter sink [18, p. 37].
V. CONCLUSIONS
Flexible transfer of manufacturing needs large amounts of
information to move with it. The knowledge of manufacturing
is often, at least partly, in forms of doing and experience so
when re-organizing production of certain product, it should be
very univocal and well literary instructed what are the
requirements, tolerances, manufacturing processes etc. what
should be used to produce a certain product. The designer
always makes a stand on manufacturing with his drawing
notes. It is not enough that the operator just knows that the cut
of the bendable support foot should be 4 mm longer than the
nominal sized foot in the drawing for to achieve the required
final foot size; it should be always marked on a drawing and
instructed with proper and univocal work instructions.
In the case of our studied steel metal product, which
processing consists of bending and punching, there are several
methods and tools to perform these manufacturing actions. The
material properties and the quality requirements of final
product define more or less the processing methods, regardless
of its final manufacturer and location. The final product should
have planar straightness and good surface quality and thus
temperature deformations of working should minimize and nor
any burr is acceptable on the top surface of the sheet product.
To giving visible all factors which affected to
manufacturability it is possible to achieve product which
fulfills all quality requirements with given manufacturing
strategy
If the manufacturing of the grid is performed in same
processing methods than earlier, which consist punching and
feet bending, the suitable processing method should follow
schematic chart represented in figure 11 for to avoid problems.
In the figure 12 the present manufacturing problems are
illustrated with white boxes with thick outline whereas dark
grey with continuous line boxes represent the main
requirements of the grid from a point of view of the quality
problems. The solutions for to fulfill quality requirements are
presented with light grey boxes with dashed outline in figure
12. This schematic chart represents situation where the
production is done in with same methods than it is used to. For
to achieve good quality product with these improvements, the
manufacturing methods should be considered already in design
stage. This means e.g. the feet bending angles, radius and
tolerances along with suitable punching order; not to mention [10] Erkkilä, T. Takaisinjousto särmäyksessä. Tekninen tiedotus 27/85.
Suomen metalliteollisuuden keskusliitto, 1985, 49 p.
the direction of the bend with relation to rolling direction.
[11] Nickel Institute. The Nickel Advantage - Nickel in Stainless Steel.
[internet document]. December 2008. [viewed 8.12.2010] Available:
http://www.nornik.ru/_upload/NickelAdvBrochEng.pdf
[12] Luoma, Matti. Product Manager; Vacuum Filters, Chemical Process
Industries. Meeting 7.6.2010.
[13] Karppinen, A. Ohutlevyjen taivutus. MET, Tekninen tiedotus 23/1986,
1986. 48 p.
[14] J. Rautio, P. Huovari. Lävistystyökalut. Tekninen tiedotus 28/84.
Suomen metalliteollisuuden keskusliitto, 1984, 65p.
[15] Goijaerts, A. M., Govaert, L. E., Baaijens, F. P. T. Prediction of ductile
fracture in metal blanking. In: Ehmann, K. F. (editor). Journal of
Manufacturing Science and Engineering. 1999. Volume 122, Issue 3.
Pp. 377-593.
[16] Hambli, R. Pridiction of burr height formation in blanking processes
using network. In: Reid, S. (editor). International Journal of Mechanical
Sciences. 2002. Publisher: Elsevier Science Ltd. Volume 44, Issue 11.
Pp. 2089-2102.
[17] Tekiner, Z., Nalbant, M., Gürün H. An experimental study for the effect
of different clearances on burr, smooth-sheared and blanking force on
aluminium sheet metal. In: Edwards, K. L. (editor). Materials and
Design. 2006. Published: Elsevier Science Ltd. Volume 27, Issue 10.
[18] Mate Precision Tooling. Mate Thick Turret Tooling Manual [internet
document. 2001. [viewed 17.12.2010]
Figure 12. The problem-coal-solution –diagram for the grid manufacturing.
Available:http://www.matetoolingsolutions.co.uk/pdf/punch_press/Mate
%20Thick%20Turret%20Tooling%20Manual.pdf
This study has shown that so-called "traditional" DFMA - [19] Eskelinen, H., Using manufacturability analysis for the efficient design
rules need to be updated and they should not be obeyed "word- of microwave mechanics. Engineering Mechanics (Association for
Engineering Mechanics) 1999. V. 6, n. 1, p. 71-74. ISSN 1210-2717.
by-word" without evaluating the advantages of different
[20] Eskelinen, H., Manufacturability analysis - A useful subset of systems
manufacturing options or options to organize chains of various engineering. IEEE Aerospace and Electronic Systems Magazine,
manufacturing stages. LUT has focused to study 1999. V. 14, n. 2, p. 33 – 35. ISSN 0885-8985.
manufacturability and DFMA aspects for decades and results [21] Eskelinen, H., Application of concurrent engineering in innovative
presented in this paper are derived from that scientific manufacturing and design of a milled microwave filter construction,
background. Inside of the DFMA-research the engineering Proc. of the Managing Innovative Manufacturing MIM2000-conference,
Birmingham 17.-19.7.2000, ISBN 0-86176-653-9
design and manufacturability of sheet metal products has arisen
[22] Eskelinen, H., Developing design methodology and DFMA-approach for
important role. [19-30.] passive microwave mechanics, Proc. of Nord Design 2000-conference,
Copenhagen 24.-25.8.2000, ISBN 87-90130-28-6
[23] Eskelinen, H., Improving the Productivity of Complex Electronic
REFERENCES Systems Design by Utilizing Applied Design Methodologies, IEEE
[1] Hidahl, J. W. [Chapter 4]: DFMA/DFSS. In: ReVelle, J. B. (editor). Aerospace and Electronic Systems Magazine, Vol 16, N.10, 2001, ISSN
Manufacturing Handbook of Best Practices. CRC Press 2002. P. 69-85. 0885-8985
ISBN: 978-1-57444-300-4. [24] Lohtander, M., Lanz, M., Varis, J. and Ollikainen M. Breaking down the
[2] Kuo, T-C., Huang, S. H., Zhang, H-C. Design for manufacture and manufacturing process of sheet metal products into features. The Journal
design for ’X’: concepts, applications, and perspectives. In: Dessouky, of Mechanics (MECHANIKA). No. 2(64). 2007 pp. 40-48. ISSN 1392-
M. (editor). Computers & Industrial Engineering. 2001. Publisher: 1207.
Elsevier Science Ltd. Volume 41, Issue 3. Pp. 241-260. [25] Lohtander, M. and Varis, J. Manufacturing features in cutting shapes
[3] G. Joseph. Copper – Its trade, manufacture, use and environmental and punching holes in sheet metal. 19th International Conference on
status. (ed. Konrad J.A. Kundig). ASM international, 1999. 451 p. ISBN Production Research ICPR-19. July 29–August 2, 2007, Valpariso,
978-0-87170-656-0 Chile. CD-proceedings.
[4] Ruostumaton teräs. ESDEP-työryhmä 18. Luento 18.4: [26] Lohtander, M., Salminen, T. and Varis J. Collecting manufacturing data
Valmistustekniikka. [Referred 2.9.2010]. Available: and questions related to data collection. World Journal of Engineering,
http://www.terasrakenneyhdistys.fi/Esdep/l18/HTML/L18-4.htm Vol. 3. No. 4. 2007 pp.19-24. ISSN 1708-5284.
[5] Xlerplate. Forming and bending. [Referred 2.9.2010]. Available: [27] Lohtander, M. Development of forming tool for turret punch press.
http://www.xlerplate.com.au/go/howto/forming-and-bending Licenciate Thesis. Lappeenranta University of Technology. 2007. 62 p.
[6] ASM handbook. Forming and Forging. Volume 14. 9 edition. Metals [28] Lohtander, M. and Varis, J. Manufacturability of large sheet metal part,
Park, OH : American Society for Metals, 1988. 978 p. ISBN 0-87170- Proceedings of 13th International Conference. Mechanika. 2008. 13th
020-4. International Conference Kęstučio str. 27, LT-44025 Kaunas-4,
Lithuania, 3. -4.4.2008.
[7] Ruostumaton teräs. ESDEP-työryhmä 18. Luento 18.4:
Valmistustekniikka. [Referred 2.9.2010]. Available: [29] Lohtander, M. and Varis, J. Meaning of detailed manufacturing
http://www.terasrakenneyhdistys.fi/Esdep/l18/HTML/L18-4.htm information. Proceedings of 14th International Conference. Mechanika.
[8] Kalpakjian, S. & Schmid, S. R. Manufacturing Engineering and 2009. 14th International Conference Kęstučio str. 27, LT-44025 Kaunas-
Technology. Fifth edition. Pearson Education, 2006. 1295 p. 4, Lithuania, 2. -3.4.2009.
[9] ASM Handbook. Sheet forming. Volume 14B. ASM international, 2006. [30] Lohtander, M., Eskelinen, H. and Varis, J. Effects of design generations
1014 p. ISBN 978-0-87170-710-9. on manufacturing costs of sheet metal products. International Journal of
Design Engineering. Sended 12/2008.