Managing Engineering Change

Summary

Engineering change through the introduction of new technology, new processes, new techniques or new materials must be carefully managed if conflict and loss are to be avoided. The paper will illustrate why certain firms need to introduce engineering changes and how they cope with them. The cost of change in terms of money and delivery dates will be discussed. Methods of generating, organizing, planning and controlling design changes will be described. The necessity of imposition of discipline on the organization to control changes will be stressed and the use of design reviews, product reviews and configuration management will be discussed. The advantages of the use of such management techniques for controlling change will also be set out.