
Boosting manufacturing by design
Project challenges
REE's innovative electric vehicle platform brings together all critical vehicle components including steering, braking, suspension and powertrain into their electric vehicle's wheel arch, allowing for a completely flat platform chassis onto which custom bodies can be attached.
Business challenge
Product Innovation
Sector
Construction and infrastructure
Manufacturing
Technology or capability
Automation & Robotics
Product Design
MTC Design Methodology Helps REE Automotive Design Products for Ease of Manufacture.
Experts at MTC have helped REE Automotive improve their design and assembly processes by using MTC's DFMA (Design for Manufacture and Assembly) processes. Applying these methods enables designs and processes which are optimised for cost, efficiency, quality and capacity needs.
The Challenge
REE's innovative electric vehicle platform brings together all critical vehicle components including steering, braking, suspension and powertrain into their electric vehicle's wheel arch, allowing for a completely flat platform chassis onto which custom bodies can be attached. To help achieve an ambitious timeline to production vehicles, REE has partnered with MTC to support their industrialisation journey, using MTC's design and assembly process methods to accelerate and de-risk their readiness for high volume manufacturing.
MTC's Solution
MTC deployed its DFMA methods to assess the REE product for ease of manufacture and assembly. The methodology cuts out waste from product and assembly designs, reducing material, components, operations, potential defects and any non-value added activities. By improving the manufacturing and assembly processes, costs and risks have been reduced significantly.
The MTC’s application of DFMA methodology provided REE with a valuable opportunity to simplify both design and manufacturing processes. Actions such as commonising and reducing fixing counts, standardising electrical connectors with built-in error-proofing, and streamlining component selection helped to reduce part counts and overall complexity. The collaboration has given us the knowledge to improve assembly efficiency and enhance product reliability, supporting our goals for scalable, high-quality production.
Chris Thompson, Head of Advanced Manufacturing Engineering, REE Automotive
The Outcome
- Simpler designs resulted in the removal of features which added no value, a reduction in parts and lower component manufacturing costs.
- Fastener reduction demonstrated how assembly complexity could be reduced. Better component designs reduced the need for fasteners by an impressive 64 per cent, with a 40 per cent reduction in the number of fastener types needed.
- Design function assessments resulted in less parts and more efficient assembly.
- Designs optimised for automation reduced cycle times and tooling needs.
- The risk of process errors was slashed by incorporating design for quality.
Benefits to the Client
- Designs which made manufacturing easier.
- Assembly processes with in-built quality.
- Proven assembly methods that can be used for other products in the future.
- Designs which maximise automation capability while lowering costs.
- Lower capital expenditure with scalable processes requiring less equipment and floorspace.
The MTC's design for manufacture and assembly methodology reduced the individual part count from 36 to 11, fasteners from 111 to 40 and fastener variants from 20 to 12. A good result for both REE Automotive and the MTCÂ
Richard Martin, Senior Research Engineer - MTC
