October 13, 2023

DFM lessons we can learn from Elon Musk

33 minutes

Sofeast's CEO Renaud flies solo in this episode and discusses what he thought of the recent Elon Musk biography by Walter Isaacson. What can we, the manufacturing community, learn from this enigmatic character? As you'll hear, one of his specialities is making positive DFM (Design for Manufacturing) changes, so there will be plenty of focus on those, but also on his 5-point algorithm for success, triumphs and failures in manufacturing, and more.

Show Sections

00:00 - Greetings and introduction.

06:25 - Elon Musk: A great contributor to humanity?

09:21 - Automation then de-automation

11:26 - Making product design engineers responsible for the manufacturing process.

13:24 - Musk's 5-point algorithm for success.

23:44 - The 'Idiot Index'.

25:44 - Material science: The unexpected choice to replace carbon fiber with stainless steel in some SpaceX parts.

27:31 - Using a revolutionary stainless-steel body for the cyber truck.

30:30 - Changing how die-casting is used in the automotive trade.

32:23 - Wrapping up.

Related content...

What is Design for Manufacturing (DFM)?

DFM for PCBA – 40+ Improvements

Get help from Sofeast's product engineers to examine your product and suggest ways that it can be improved for manufacturability by purchasing our DFM review for Manufacturing in Asia.

DFM and DFA explainer video

The Design for X Approach: 12 Common Examples

DFX: Product Design Optimizations You Should Consider [Podcast]

Get in touch with us

Connect with us on LinkedIn

Send us a tweet @sofeast

Prefer Facebook? Check us out on FB

Subscribe to our YouTube channel

Subscribe to the podcast

There are more episodes to come, so remember to subscribe! You can do so in your favorite podcast apps here and don't forget to give us a 5-star rating, please: