In this episode of Manufacturers Make Strides, the conversation focuses on manufacturing design collaboration and what happens when design and production teams work too far apart. Dianna Deeney, a quality and reliability engineer, talks about why siloed working still shows up in many organisations and how that shapes day-to-day outcomes on the shop floor and in product development.

The discussion is relevant for manufacturing engineers, quality professionals, design engineers, and anyone involved in new product development. It speaks to teams who deal with handovers between design and production, design decisions made early, and the downstream effects they create.

Manufacturing design collaboration is not presented as a new concept, but as a practical way of working that already exists inside many businesses. This episode looks at how shared understanding, simple tools, and early conversations can change how teams interact, using real experience rather than theory. The focus stays on how people work together, not on tools alone, and why that matters in manufacturing environments.

Our Standout Moment

One stand out moment comes when Dianna describes facilitating a cross-functional meeting around a product already in use. Changes were needed after issues appeared from the field, design, and manufacturing. Instead of handling these separately, she brought representatives together in one room.

Using a simple process flow and risk-based discussion, the group worked through how the product was being used, what decisions had been made during design, and where manufacturing teams were struggling. This led to clear moments of alignment. Field teams understood why certain design choices existed. Designers saw the practical challenges on the production side.

The value of this moment was not in introducing something new, but in creating space for shared visibility. It showed how structured conversation, focused on one product and one problem, can surface misunderstandings that had existed for years without being addressed directly.

More in this episode:

• Design and manufacturing silos
• Manufacturing input during design
• Use of simple process tools
• Early collaboration effects

“Maybe I should start applying what I learned in manufacturing to the design process”

Dianna Deeney

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Listen to Dianna Deeney full episode of Manufacturers Make Strides. Available now on YouTube and all major podcast platforms.

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