Why do some companies consistently out-perform their competitors?
Dell Computer, for example, has been leading the PC market for years. Since Michael Dell founded the company with $1000 in his University of Texas dorm room in 1984, Dell’s revenues have grown steadily. As of 2005, revenues are at $49.2 billion. 1 Dell is the market share leader in the PC industry, at 17.9 percent, up from 16.7 percent (HP is second with a market share of 15.8 percent, down from 16.2 percent). 2 “The interesting question is whether anyone can slow Dell down,” writes Eric Bangeman in ARS Technica.
The five basic tenets of Dell’s direct-to-the-customer model are:
• Find the most efficient path to the customer. 
• Provide a single point of accountability. 
• Build to order. 
• Be the low-cost leader.
• Use standards-based technology.
The company is famous for its manufacturing excellence and its “foremost competitive weapon—an unrelenting sense of urgency and speed.” 3 Fast Company calls it “one of the fastest, most hyper efficient organizations on the planet.” 
Dell has long practiced just-in-time inventory techniques. “Though it assembles nearly 80,000 computers every 24 hours, it carries no more than two hours of inventory in its factories and a maximum of just 72 hours across its entire operation,” says Fast Company. The company is able to deliver a custom computer to a customer within 5 days, in spite of the fact that the Dell creates those computers in manufacturing facilities all over the world. 

Michael Dell has a well-deserved reputation for driving his company to continually improve.
As Fast Company reports: 
Dell is always on a mission to outdo itself. The [newest factory in north Austin] is expected to increase its production by some 30% by year's end. Michael Dell himself drove that point home when he recently toured the plant. A group from one of the packing lines showed him how they'd upped their processing rate from 300 to 350 boxes an hour. "Michael congratulated them, and there were high fives all around,’ recalls Dick Hunter [Dell’s supply-chain manager for the Americas]. “But then he issued a challenge: 'How can we improve to 400?’ He's pleased, but never satisfied.”
“Dell has brought a maniacal focus to shaving minutes off the time it takes to assemble and ship a computer,” Fast Company reports. “By studying videotapes of ‘the build,’ as they call it, factory managers have slashed in half the number of times a computer is touched by workers. They've counted the screws in a PC and redesigned it so that the major components—hard drive, graphics card, CD player—simply snap in place….In a blur of synchronized movements, a veteran builder can piece together a Dell OptiPlex or Dimension PC in three minutes.”
What you have just read is a glimpse into how Dell uses DFMA (Design for Manufacture and Assembly) software to become “one of the fastest, most hyperefficient organizations on the planet.” Here’s a recent example of how Dell used DFMA to improve assembly time on their three most popular computers: Optiplex, Precision, and Dimension.
When the company’s engineering and manufacturing team set out to improve assembly time on these models, they had already reduced assembly time on their Optiframe design by 32%--on a computer that had recently earned an “A” from PC Magazine for service and reliability.4 
As usual, while they were “pleased,” they weren’t “satisfied.” Dell’s engineering and manufacturing teams set out to have one chassis family serve all three types of computers; decrease assembly time by 25%; and increase ease of service. 
They approached this challenge in classic Dell “best practices” fashion:
1. They assembled a cross-functional team.
2. They were willing to look at all possible options, even calling the project “DFX,” where D=Design, F=for, and “X” could represent manufacturing, logistics, integration, modularity, assembly, safety, ergonomics, environment, quality, and service.
3. They created a “product features guide” which itemized 80 to 90% of the required features.
4. They then used DFMA to evaluate the functional purpose of each assembly and relationships between parts. The software provided a report that proposed a theoretically attainable optimum design. Each part was rated on its difficulty of orientation and assembly. DFMA software estimated the total assembly time and cost for the entire design.
5. One of their key goals was to eliminate fasteners. “Every screw you design out of a product reduces assembly time by approximately 8 seconds,” explains Dwight Stimson, senior DFX engineer at Dell. “Integrated assembly…also cuts assembly time and logistics costs.”5 Dell engineers used the DFMA software to design an integrated system for attaching floppy, CD, and DVD drives. The drives were slid onto rails, with shock absorption built in to them.
6. Cable routing was also built into the design, so suppliers could pre-install cables. Cables were color-coded for easier assembly. 
7. A new box was designed for shipping that was smaller, lighter, and stronger. Each ½-inch of shrinkage resulted in savings of hundreds of thousands of dollars per year in outbound freight costs. 
8. The final assembly is virtually “tool-free.” The operator picks up a component, slides it onto its rails, snaps the rails in place, plugs in the cable, and then repeats the process for each component.

The final result? Assembly time was reduced by 25 to 40%, depending on the configuration of the PC. The three different chassis designs now use common metal and plastic parts, reducing inventory and tooling expenses. Assembly and training has been standardized for all three types of computers, worldwide. Overall service time for the PCs has been reduced 20 to 30%. 
DFMA plays a key role in Dell’s quest for revenues and market leadership. Shawn S. Jagodzinski, senior product engineer DAO product engineering strategy, and Bradley S. Keup, senior technical strategist PG operations strategy for Dell, wrote in Desktop Engineering: 
“We rely on a number of software tools, especially those that allow us to predict manufacturing and assembly costs early in design. We use Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DFMA) software from Boothroyd Dewhurst, Inc. throughout product development to evaluate part cost, ease of assembly, and serviceability. DFMA is a fundamental business process for the Dell engineering team because it supports our holistic approach to cost. It helps us analyze our designs and make decisions that lower overall costs, not just product costs. Increased manufacturing throughput, reduced damage rates, higher quality, streamlined logistics, and faster delivery are all outcomes of weaving DFMA into the development cycle.”
Hundreds of companies use DFMA. Other leading companies using DFMA include Access Business Group, Agilent Technologies, Andrew Corporation, Applied Materials, Audi, Battelle, Bayer, BMW, Boeing, Bosch, Cymer, DataCard, Deere, Diebold, Ericsson, Ford, GE Plastics, General Motors, Harley-Davidson, Honeywell, Hughes Network Systems, HiLite Industries, ITT Industries, Jernberg, Johnson Controls, Kodak, Lear, Liebert, Lockheed Martin, Maytag, Mercedes Benz, Moen, Motorola, MTD Products, NCR, Nissan, Nokia, Nortel, Otis Elevator, PACCAR, Polaris, Raytheon, Rockwell Automation, Rolls Royce, Siemens, Solectron, Storage Technology, Tellabs, TRW, Visteon, Volkswagen, Volvo, Xerox, and Yale Security.

Access Business Group, Agilent Technologies, Andrew Corporation, Applied Materials, Audi, Battelle, Bayer, BMW, Boeing, Bosch, Cymer, DataCard, Deere, Diebold, Ericsson, Ford, GE Plastics, General Motors, Harley-Davidson, Honeywell, Hughes Network Systems, HiLite Industries, ITT Industries, Jernberg, Johnson Controls, Kodak, Lear, Liebert, Lockheed Martin, Maytag, Mercedes Benz, Moen, Motorola, MTD Products, NCR, Nissan, Nokia, Nortel, Otis Elevator, PACCAR, Polaris, Raytheon, Rockwell Automation, Rolls Royce, Siemens, Solectron, Storage Technology, Tellabs, TRW, Visteon, Volkswagen, Volvo, Xerox, and Yale Security.