Reducing the time and cost involved in the product development is very important to stay competitive in the market. Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DFMA) is a cost-reduction framework for designers to evaluate manufacturing aspects of a product design. A case study on an in-market food processor, this paper aims to demonstrate the significance of DFMA implementation on an Indian consumer product. Even though many DFMA case studies have been published till date, very few have dealt with the Indian consumer durables category. In this paper, various cost-reduction opportunities are identified in the design of a food processor manufactured by a reputed company in India. Using the DFMA study, design ideas are developed with an objective of reducing the overall manufacturing cost of the product. As a result of DFMA implementation, significant improvement in terms of the product’s architecture, assembly time and design efficiency is identified. Overall cost reduction of 0.25 USD (United States Dollar) was achieved and an improvement in the Design for Assembly (DFA) index from 15.99 to 19.93 is reported. This procedure utilized in this paper can be adopted for any consumer durable products of similar type and design improvements and cost reduction can be achieved. © 2016 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.