Enhancing Design Best Practices at a Global Healthcare Company with HCL DFMPro

Introduction

This case study explores how a leading US headquartered global healthcare giant successfully integrated HCL DFMPro into its design process to enhance design best practices, improve manufacturing efficiency, and reduce costs. The journey reflects the commitment to innovation and continuous improvement within a complex, global organization.

Background

Company Overview

The global healthcare company specializes in designing, manufacturing, and distributing advanced medical equipment. With a mission to improve patient care and outcomes, the company operates at the forefront of healthcare technology and innovation.

Industry Context

The medical devices industry faces significant challenges, including stringent regulatory requirements, high failure costs, and the need for rapid development cycles. In response, the company recognized the need for enhanced standardization and efficiency in its engineering workflows.

Adoption of DFMPro

Since its introduction in 2013, DFMPro has been a critical tool for the company. It helps identify design flaws and manufacturing issues early in the product development cycle. The platform is integrated directly into the CATIA and CREO Parametric design environments, allowing engineers to assess designs against organizational and global best practices quickly.

Challenges Faced

Despite its benefits, the company faced challenges in maximizing the value derived from DFMPro. Key issues included:

• Low Adoption Rate: Only 20% realization of value from DFMPro investments due to inconsistent usage among engineers.
• Tool Fatigue: Engineers were overwhelmed by the number of tools available, leading to the underutilization of DFMPro.
• Installation and Configuration Issues: Initial installation processes were cumbersome, leading to user variability and support problems.

Strategic Initiatives:

Enhancing User Engagement

To address these challenges, the company implemented several strategic initiatives:

1. Training and Awareness: Conducted a series of webinars and lunch-and-learn sessions to familiarize over 250 engineers with DFMPro and its capabilities.
2. User-Configured Rules: Allowed engineers to create their own rules while retaining core company guidelines, fostering a sense of ownership and encouraging use.
3. Simplified Installation: Transitioned to a streamlined installation process that bundled DFMPro with Creo Parametric, making it easier for users to access the tool.

Measuring Success

The company set clear metrics for success, focusing on increasing the adoption rate of DFMPro. Following the implementation of the new strategies:

• The number of users increased from 20% to over 400, demonstrating significant progress in tool adoption.
• The streamlined installation process reduced variability in user experiences, leading to more consistent outcomes.

Outcomes

Improved Design Quality

By proactively utilizing DFMPro, the company reported a decrease in manufacturing issues, leading to fewer production interruptions and lower costs associated with engineering changes. The tool facilitated better communication of design risks, enabling teams to address potential problems before they escalated.

Cost Savings

The financial impact of implementing DFMPro was significant, as reducing manufacturing defects and minimizing engineering changes translated into substantial cost savings. This mitigated the potential for millions of dollars in costs associated with field replacements and production downtimes.

Conclusion

The integration of HCL DFMPro into the design process of the US-headquartered global healthcare company represents a transformative approach to improving design best practices. Through strategic training, user engagement, and streamlined processes, the company enhanced its engineering efficiency and reinforced its commitment to delivering high-quality healthcare products and solutions.