Engineering Change Implications on Product Design: A Review of the Literature

Abstract

Abstract. Engineering changes are inexorable and can arise at any phase of the product life cycle. To capture the maximum market shares manufacturers have to effectively and efficiently manage engineering changes. This paper provides overview of ECM and perspective on the published academic literature related to product engineering changes. The aim is to give an idea and understanding about the engineering changes in product to the new researchers. Engineering changes can be taken in both aspects such as an opportunity to enhance the product performance and as a burden, resulting in a rework, which utilizes resources, time and cost. It is paramount that the impact of engineering changes be identified, assessed and implemented as early as possible. Different methods/tools have been devised to better understand the engineering change phenomenon and to control the changes. ECM can help to mitigate the potential of negative consequences arising from uncertainties during the product life cycle. In this paper the significant aspects of the engineering changes have been discussed and highlighted the methods/tools that are proposed by the researchers. The review shows the prominence of ECM in a product life cycle.

Addressing Obsolescence from Day One in the Conceptual Phase of Complex Systems as a Design Constraint

“…Such an approach leaves little time for solutioning and may therefore be expensive [1]. Evidence [3] [4] shows that 70-80% of total product cost is decided during early design stages [5]. In an effort to address unplanned expenses and knowing the impact of the conceptual design on the life-cycle cost, this paper intends to present a model-based systems engineering (MBSE) approach to proactively assess obsolescence risk as off the conceptual stage of design.…”

Concurrent Conceptual Design Sequencing for Mbse of Complex Systems Through Design Structure Matrices

“…NASA states that systems engineering purpose is to design, build, and operate systems safely in the most cost-effective way possible considering performance, cost, schedule, and risk (NASA, 2017). Empirical investigations and literature studies show that 70-80% of total product cost is decided during early design stages, while 56% of changes occur after the initial phase (Ullah et al, 2015). The motivation of this research is to improve the iterations progression during the early stages of design in order to minimize the amount of design assumptions being made when the exact values of parameters are still unknown at the beginning of a design iteration and to decrease the rises in the cost; up to 39% of changes in the late stages are estimated to be avoidable (Ullah et al, 2015).…”

“…Empirical investigations and literature studies show that 70-80% of total product cost is decided during early design stages, while 56% of changes occur after the initial phase (Ullah et al, 2015). The motivation of this research is to improve the iterations progression during the early stages of design in order to minimize the amount of design assumptions being made when the exact values of parameters are still unknown at the beginning of a design iteration and to decrease the rises in the cost; up to 39% of changes in the late stages are estimated to be avoidable (Ullah et al, 2015). The concept and design stage are very important when it comes to extracting defects because while they only represent about the 15% (Walden et al, 2015) of the total mission cost, they commit 70-80% of the life-cycle cost.…”