OpenDFM

OpenDFM is a diagnostic module within the Hardware Readiness Framework (HRF).

It exists to test a specific class of readiness failure: the assumption that a design which looks manufacturable will behave as intended when built.

OpenDFM does not attempt to optimize designs. It does not prescribe manufacturing methods. It does not replace engineering judgment.

Its role is narrower.

OpenDFM exposes where design intent silently diverges from physical and manufacturing reality before those assumptions are locked into suppliers, tooling, or contracts.

Why OpenDFM Exists

In many hardware programs, “DFM” is treated as a late-stage checklist:

• after the design is largely frozen
• after supplier conversations have already shaped constraints
• after timelines depend on optimistic interpretations

At that point, DFM becomes corrective rather than diagnostic.

OpenDFM exists upstream of that moment.

It is designed to surface:

• hidden coupling between geometry, tolerance, and process
• assumptions embedded in drawings that only exist in abstraction
• manufacturability risks that cannot be negotiated away later

Relationship to HRF

HRF defines readiness at the decision level.

OpenDFM is one way of interrogating that readiness.

Specifically, OpenDFM operates at the boundary between:

• design intent (what the system is expected to do)
• physical behavior (what will actually happen when built)

OpenDFM does not stand alone. Its outputs only have meaning when interpreted through HRF’s language, models, and failure taxonomy.

What OpenDFM Is Not

OpenDFM is not:

• a comprehensive DFM guide
• a library of best practices
• a substitute for manufacturing experience
• a guarantee of successful production

It is a probe, not a solution.

Its value comes from what it reveals, not from what it resolves.

What Comes Next

OpenDFM will be expanded into:

• explicit failure patterns
• structured questions
• decision-time diagnostics

Only after HRF’s readiness concepts are understood.

Until then, OpenDFM should be read as an example: a concrete module that demonstrates how readiness can be tested, without collapsing the framework into a tool.