Getting an accurate understanding of eventual manufacturing volumes is absolutely key to the design process as it directly affects the manufacturing process chosen which in turn affects the design, the tooling costs and the part price. The process also provides constraints such as limitations to the materials available and the wall thickness used.
Designing for high volume may allow for the use of dedicated or "hard" tooling which can potentially provide the designer with benefits such as better surface finishes, process repeatability and the ability to get "feature-rich" geometry for "free".
Using experiences gained from performing Design for Manufacture & Assembly (DfMA) studies, WDS has supported the development of high-volume products for example for commercial lighting products and for personal tracking devices.
