An integrated engineering change management process model for a project-based manufacturing

Abstract

In a project-based ETO (Engineering-To-Order) industry, design, purchasing, production and quality processes are closely integrated to meet a delivery schedule, cost limitation and quality specification. When an engineering change occurs in a project execution stage, miscommunication of design change may generate a significant cost and delay. This paper suggests a model to capture a design change and share activities for processing change done by each stakeholder. The framework also captures ECR (Engineering Change Request), ECO (Engineering Change Order) and a relationship among them with a result of processes. The data could be used for analysing defects of each process, improving a design quality, and a plan for cost reduction. For capturing, sharing and monitoring every change of drawing element and BOM (Bill of Materials), the model extracts a drawing and BOM from a product structure of a 3D CAD (Computer-Aided Design) system. Extracted data are sent to PLM (Product Life-Cycle Management)/ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system for planning, purchasing, manufacturing and quality control processes.Keywords: engineering change management; CAD-PLM/ERP integration; design process for multi-concurrent project-based manufacturing; project-based design and manufacturing IntroductionUnlike MTS (Make-to-stock), ATS (Assemble-to-Order) and MTO (Make-to-Order) industry, the processes in projects are always carried out with limited time and resources according to a characteristic of project-based industry. Sometimes, design and manufacturing processes are proceeded almost concurrently to meet a delivery schedule because manufacturing design is carried out according to the product specifications after the contract has been made. After a manufacturing operation starts, a design revision will be treated in a more sophisticated manner because there will be more constraints of design change in this stage. A design change can be occurred by a customer's request, a status of material supply and an interference with other design divisions. The application deadline occurs concurrently or with a very short lead time. During this stage, if misleading change information is delivered to the stakeholders at a post-stage, it will cause significant project loss and quality issue. Therefore, it is necessary to have a functional and procedural ECM (Engineering Change Management) model different from a model applied to a traditional manufacturing strategy.Currently, material production, drawing and BOM (Bill of Materials) provided by an engineer are produced via a CAD (Computer-Aided Design) system. In order to utilise such product information in manufacturing or

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Part Change Management: A Case Study on Automotive Engineering and Production; Domestic and International Perspectives

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