Introduction

Abstract

The Engineering Life Cycle for complex systems design and development requires the set-up of adequate and controlled processes involving many different disciplines. The industrial teams for these projects usually involve many levels in the procurement/supply chain, with system and product knowledge geographically distributed. In large International programmes the partners are dispersed in different locations: the co-operation among all involved actors and the integration of the different engineering artefacts produced by each partner generate high cost overheads on the projects and make quite complex the deployment of optimised engineering processes. A worldwide co-operation is increasingly required to make feasible initiatives such as the International Space Station or Large Commercial Satellites Networks. In this frame, industrial plants providing specialised expertise and production capabilities are required to put together their effort to design and develop the new systems. The “design integration” and the final “system physical/functional integration and qualification” imply a high degree of cross-interaction among the partners as well as the definition of appropriate engineering and management processes that recognise this complexity.