IBM Proprinter Case Study

Design for Automated Assembly

In order to compete with foreign manufacturers who used low cost labor, IBM decided to automate the assembly process using Design for Automated Assembly (DFAA). These rules are similar to Design for Assembly (DFA) and Design for Manufacturing (DFM) guidelines.

DFAA forced the design team to follow guidelines making robotic assembly easier and less expensive. Charley Rogers stated another advantage of DFAA, "Automation drove the integrity of the design. I believe that robots were essential to instill the discipline to do it right; because the parts could not be touched by human hands, it forced us to do it right."

DFAA not only made it possible to assemble the Proprinter robotically. It also allowed the printer to be assembled manually in under three minutes by one person. This shows that these design rules are beneficial even when automated assembly is not used.

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Last Updated: October 26, 1998, NEEDS Staff
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