Engineers can now design in hours what used to take days. Machine shops can produce custom metal parts with incredible speed and precision.
And yet, despite these efficiencies in modern manufacturing, quotes get held up, jobs get kicked back, and costs creep up for reasons that should be preventable.
At the center of it all is a problem manufacturers have been talking about for decades: Ensuring alignment between design intent and manufacturability to keep projects on track and on budget.
To dig deeper into this long-standing challenge, Cres Ferrell, CEO of ReNEW Manufacturing Solutions spoke with Jay Jacobs, former owner of Rapid Manufacturing and current board member at Paperless Parts. Together, they shed light on where the disconnect starts—and how smarter collaboration can solve it.
“It’s a problem that’s been around since the dinosaurs,” says Jacobs.
Although engineers learn the theory behind machining, many don’t have the opportunity for hands-on experience with the actual manufacturing process. Using tools like SolidWorks, they can easily design complex models—but without firsthand experience, it can be challenging to anticipate how those designs will translate into custom metal parts on the shop floor.
This disconnect can lead to a familiar list of problems:
As manufacturing technology gets more sophisticated, the question isn’t always whether the part can be made but whether it can be made efficiently. For instance: Does a certain part really need a four-place decimal tolerance, or would two be enough?
“When we're quoting, these details play such a large role in what a part costs to manufacture,” says Cres Ferrell.
When it comes to DFM challenges, there are a few common problems that show up time and time again:
Sometimes it’s a habit; other times, it’s caution on the part of engineers aiming to ensure performance. But when tolerances are tighter than needed, they can increase machining complexity and cost.
Custom metal parts are sometimes modeled in CAD in a way that doesn’t reflect the tolerance intent. For example, when a model with asymmetric tolerances is built using the lower or upper limit instead of the midpoint, a part can technically fall out of spec—even if it’s machined exactly to the model.
These usually arise from limited visibility into how metal behaves when it’s being formed or machined. For example, placing a hole too close to a bend may unintentionally distort its shape during forming.
The good news is that these issues can be avoided when engineers have the chance to interact with manufacturing teams or gain more exposure to how parts are made on the shop floor.
To be fair, engineers are trained to focus on design, not machining or fabrication. Unless they’ve had direct experience on the shop floor, it’s completely understandable that they may not be familiar with the nuances of every manufacturing process. Successful design for manufacturability will always be a collaborative effort.
“Designers can’t possibly know how to design for every process unless they’re doing it day in and day out,” says Jacobs.
The best way to close this gap is with hands-on exposure. That might mean sending engineers to a metal manufacturing facility to observe how a part is made. “I had a manager early in my career who sent me to the machine shop,” says Ferrell, who began his career as an engineer. “I drew the parts, then I had to see how they were made. That changed everything for me as a designer.”
Even something as simple as pairing an engineer with a machinist during quoting can make a big difference. When those conversations happen earlier in the process, both teams benefit.
Jacobs takes it a step further by encouraging manufacturing partners to host DFM Days at their shops. “Open it up to customers and bring in their engineers. Let them walk the floor, talk to machinists, talk to estimators, and see how parts are actually made. A lot of engineers have never even been inside a shop like the ones they’re designing for.”
Another option is hosting an on-site SolidWorks user group meeting. According to Jacobs, they are always looking for places to meet.
Better collaboration between engineers and their manufacturing partners is key, but Jacobs challenges the software industry to help solve this problem with modern SaaS, as well. He points to a SolidWorks plugin his team developed at Rapid that quotes parts in real time, shows the cost implications of certain part features and materials, and flags design issues to reinforce best practices.
“We had guardrails in place,” he says. “If a design wasn’t within best practices, the client had to submit the part for manual quoting. That alone educated a lot of users.”
The team at Rapid found that engineers used the plugin for more than buying parts. They were using it to learn how bends, materials, and tolerances affected cost—and how to iterate on a design to make it manufacturable.
Because SolidWorks is still desktop-based, it’s difficult to integrate with modern quoting and production systems and instead relies on theoretical pricing. “You need a tool that gives real, orderable prices—not made-up numbers,” Jacobs says. “That’s how you enable smart design decisions.”
And while cloud-based CAD tools do exist, they haven’t seen widespread adoption, mainly because the most widely used platforms have yet to make the shift.
It’s a shift Jacobs believes is overdue.
“If we can catch rockets, we can move CAD to the cloud.”
At the end of the day, designing for manufacturability can build stronger, more collaborative relationships between engineers and manufacturers. That means creating space for conversation, sharing real-world context, and a willingness to work together toward practical, high-performing solutions.
At ReNEW Manufacturing Solutions, we’re committed to being a true partner in that process. Whether it’s working through a tricky design, sharing feedback during quoting, or helping customers think through tolerances and material choices, we’re here to help ensure your part is manufactured efficiently.
If you’re looking for a modern manufacturing partner who understands the realities on both sides of the drawing, reach out to our team or request a quote today.