Design for Excellence goes beyond just manufacturing costs. Consider the entire product lifecycle, including serviceability. A design that's easy to assemble but difficult to service in the field (like using a blind screw on a replaceable part) increases the total cost of ownership and harms the customer experience.

In complex systems (e.g., electromechanical devices with software), problems often arise not within a single discipline but in the interactions between them. Engineers must adopt a systems-level view to anticipate and address these "undefined requirements" where different components intersect.

A key lesson from SpaceX is its aggressive design philosophy of questioning every requirement to delete parts and processes. Every component removed also removes a potential failure mode, simplifies the system, and speeds up assembly. This simple but powerful principle is core to building reliable and efficient hardware.

In aerospace and defense, the classic Silicon Valley motto is dangerous. Hardware failures can lead to physical harm and mission failure, unlike software bugs. This necessitates a rigorous testing and evaluation stack to prevent edge cases before deployment, making speed secondary to safety and reliability.

Experts often design components in isolation, perfecting their specific 'Lego' piece. When it's time to assemble the final device, these pieces fail to fit together because a systems-level approach was missing from the start, leading to costly rework and integration challenges.

To ensure a smooth transition from development to production, an operations or manufacturing SME must be part of the design process from the start. Otherwise, products are developed without manufacturability in mind, leading to expensive, reactive fixes and subjective quality control during scale-up.

Beyond the major process change, Pella's new system incorporated small design features to improve the installer experience. Audible clicks on brackets and clear "Do Not Tape" imprints provided confidence and eliminated common, costly installation errors.

To enforce a standard fastener length across parts, don't just change counterbore depth in the SolidWorks Hole Wizard. Instead, edit the feature's underlying sketch. Make the head clearance a driven dimension and explicitly define the material thickness under the screw head, forcing the feature to adapt.

You can quickly gauge if a manufacturing process was rushed into production by checking for in-process quality control measures. The absence of tools like vision systems or torque testers indicates a lack of thought given to measuring and controlling critical process parameters.