Aerospace cost estimating for competitive costed design for manufacture

The paper addresses the linkage between cost, design and manufacture within Aerospace. However, the focus is on cost as a practical approach to ensuring competitive Design For Manufacture (DFM). A number of key aspects in the product design process are addressed in highlighting the specific importance of cost to Integrated Product and Process Development (IPPD). These are namely concerned with costs that are engineering driven and include: manufacturing cost estimation; component cost modelling; bidding; design cost drivers and complexity factors; and implementation issues. Ultimately, the paper advocates a costed DFMbased methodology and has presented key aspects of the approach along with some initial validation results.