Which software is used?

Whichever your team already uses. Design-for-manufacture judgement is the same in any CAD, and teaching the buttons of one specific program ages badly.

Does it include industrial or product design?

No. Aesthetics, ergonomics and product development are a different discipline; we teach mechanical design aimed at getting the part built. We would rather say so than deliver something half-covered.

Is it useful for someone who has designed for years?

It usually pays off most for them, because most costly habits come from learning without ever having watched the part be made. The design-for-manufacture section generates the most discussion.

How long does it take?

Three days. It covers machining, moulding and sheet metal; if your product only uses one of the three it can be cut to two.

Can we work on our own designs?

Yes, and it is the most useful option. Bringing real parts from your product turns the course into a design review you leave with concrete actions from.

Mechanical Design and Design for Manufacture Training in Puebla, Mexico

What the shop sees and the designer does not

A 1 mm internal radius in a deep pocket forces a cutter that cannot reach, and triples machine time. A ±0.01 tolerance placed out of habit on a dimension that does not need it can double the cost of the part. A 4 mm wall on a moulded part sinks the surface. None of those three show up on screen: they show up on the quotation, and by then it is a redesign.

This course is taught by people who receive those models and have to build them. That is the whole value: the comment arrives before the quotation rather than after it.

Syllabus

A robust feature tree. Modelling so that one dimension can change without the model blowing up. It is what separates a reusable file from a disposable one.
Functional tolerancing. Dimensioning according to what the part has to do, not according to what the machine can hold.
Fits. Clearance, transition, interference. How to choose, and how not to discover the mistake at assembly.
Design for machining. Tool access, internal radii, depths, workholding and the number of setups.
Design for injection moulding. Wall thickness, draft, ribs, parting lines and where the ejector mark will land.
Design for sheet metal. Bend radii, flat patterns, bend sequence and what cannot be bent even though the CAD allows it.
Materials. Choosing on real requirements rather than habit; what changes between a steel, an aluminium and an engineering thermoplastic.
Drawings. Dimensioning so somebody can make the part and somebody can reject it. Both, with GD&T where it is needed.

Why it lands better next to the machines

Exercises are reviewed against the plant's real processes: CNC machining, plastic injection moulding and composites. Seeing the part you designed set up on the machine, and hearing why the operator has to flip it three times, teaches faster than any list of best practices.

Prerequisites

Basic 3D CAD skills. The course does not teach a specific program: it teaches how to decide. Exercises are done in whichever CAD your team already uses.

Anyone dimensioning drawings should also take the dimensional metrology and GD&T course: it is the other half of the same conversation. And if the design starts from an existing part, the reverse engineering course covers that route.

Mechanical design and design for manufacture course

What the shop sees and the designer does not

Syllabus

Why it lands better next to the machines

Prerequisites

Related

Bring one of your parts and we review it together