Supplier DFM in days, not weeks

It depends on how soon you bring manufacturing and suppliers into the design conversation housed in CoLab.

 If cost reduction DFM is a major opportunity for you, then CoLab lets you bring suppliers into the design process to quote parts, spot opportunities for cost reduction and highlight areas for manufacturability improvements. 

How exactly is CoLab able to do this? Using a feature called Portals. Portals allow you to bring third-parties into CoLab at no extra cost. This means you can set-up an online space housing PDFs, data sheets, 3D models and more so your suppliers have all the information they need to do a proper DFM analysis – all without setting up a meeting.

Teams that use CoLab for DFM often bring their global manufacturing teams into CoLab to help catch DFM opportunities sooner. We even have customers who bring their customers into CoLab to find better manufacturing opportunities before production.

How exactly is CoLab able to do this? Using a feature called Portals. Portals allow you to bring third-parties into CoLab at no extra cost. This means you can set-up an online space housing PDFs, data sheets, 3D models and more so your partners have all the information they need to spot DFM opportunities– all without setting up a meeting.

Yes! CoLab customers often use CoLab in stages and their use evolves over time. Most customers start with engineering design review, move into supplier collaboration, cost reduction events and DFM.

There are a few options to get DFM input sooner:

‍Portals let CoLab users bring third parties into CoLab at no extra cost. This is ideal if you have external partners who can add value before testing or production. online space housing PDFs, data sheets, 3D models and more so your partners have all the information they need to spot DFM opportunities– all without setting up a meeting.

‍Tags let users label an individual bit of feedback. These act as delineators so you can quickly sort feedback based on a label. In the case of DFM, an opportunity to reduce cost or improve manufacturability can be tagged as “DFM.” Using CoLab’s in-app reporting tool Track, you can then sort all DFM feedback in a list to download or prioritize.

‍Feedback loops are a core benefit of CoLab. By pinning feedback in the context of a 3D model and bringing other team members into that feedback to respond and react is the start of a feedback loop. Now imagine tens to hundreds of feedback loops in a single model. This allows your team to iterate and evolve designs faster and catch mistakes earlier. Overall, companies who use CoLab to create feedback loops find it easier to bring external parties in to help with DFM.

The start of creating a process like this starts with your Customer Success Manager during Onboarding. Part of onboarding is process mapping where we can start to not only map your current processes into CoLab, but also how to begin a process like DFM.