Efficient manufacturing of products depends not only on the performance of the manufacturing system, but also to a significant extent on product design. Therefore, the concept of Design For Manufacturing (DFM) is being recognised as a critical issue in new product development. In today's highly competitive environment, DFM should be regarded as a strategically important factor for the performance of both product development and manufacturing.

The theoretical basis for DFM consists of knowledge about relationships between product design parameters and manufacturing parameters. In practice, this knowledge is often applied in the form of design tools and methodologies. However, there are many other aspects of importance that affect the performance of DFM that also must be considered in a manufacturing enterprise.

This thesis analyses and describes how DFM theory and methodology can be adopted and applied on the basis of a wide perspective of a manufacturing enterprise.

It is suggested that DFM can be divided into three different activities in the company: preparatory, supporting, and operational DFM. In a large enterprise, it is in the long run important to perform all three of these activities. Operational DFM (DFM performed in a product development project) is highly dependent on the other two DFM activities. Managerial, organisational and design methodological factors must be considered thoroughly when DFM tools are to be introduced in a development organisation, or when the DFM capability is being analysed. It is exceedingly important to create consistency between overall goals and these factors. In the thesis, DFM tools are defined and analysed, and their links to cost estimation and cost management are described. In this context, it appears that a powerful overall strategy for supporting DFM lies in applying target costing and activity based costing approaches using DFM methodology and tools.

In order to support the development of DFM capability in a company, a framework for an improvement procedure is also described.