Integration of manufacturing-induced properties in product design

Abstract Guidelines of the design for manufacturability (DfM) hardly regard neither specific positive effects nor additional functional convenience achievable by specific manufacturing technologies. Consequently, opportunities for design quality improvements are wasted. The paper introduces a new approach in terms of connecting methods of product design, mathematical optimization, process planning and forming technologies, which inherently change material properties of the workpiece. By providing manufacturing-induced properties at an early stage of product design additional functionality can be generated and product complexity reduced. Due to the algorithmic approach design solutions based on different manufacturing technologies can be efficiently compared in mature development stages.