With A&D products containing tens of thousands of parts, and potentially millions of lines of software code–produced by hundreds of companies dispersed across the globe, Aerospace & Defense organizations understand the fundamental value and dire need for robust Change & Configuration Management (CM) processes. But it’s not just the number of parts, lines of code, or partners driving the need for better processes. The complexity of products and development processes, as well as the globalization of product development, are all contributing to an environment that is becoming more difficult to manage with each new program or project.
P T C . c o m
White Paper A&D Change and Con? guration Management Page 1 of 16
Change and Configuration Management for
Today's Dynamic A&D Organizations
Best Practices in Managing Enterprise Content in an Environment of Increasing Product Complexity and Fast-Growing Global Supply Chains
Abstract
With A&D products containing tens of thousands of parts, and potentially millions of lines of software code-produced by hundreds of companies dispersed across the globe, Aerospace & Defense organizations understand the fundamental value and dire need for robust Change & Configuration Management (CM) processes. But it's not just the number of parts, lines of code, or partners driving the need for better processes. The complexity of products and development processes, as well as the globalization of product development, are all contributing to an environment that is becoming more difficult to manage with each new program or project.
Despite this evolving paradigm, many forward-thinking A&D companies have found ways to dominate today's market by applying Best Practice change management methods, and the results are impressive: faster time-to-market, improved quality, substantial reductions in hardware and software defects, reduced costs in logistics and maintenance, and most important-the ability to stand out in a ? ercely competitive market.White Paper A&D Change and Con? guration Management Page 2 of 16
As an A&D executive seeking to improve your market position, ask Part 1: Major Challenges Affecting Change and yourself: How has your organization embraced this paradigm shift in Configuration Management Todaychange and con? guration management? Are your CM processes stan- While product complexity and growing globalization have signi? -dardized and applied across product development? Is your extended cantly affected A&D Change and Con? guration Management prac-enterprise directly integrated? Is the full complement of product rep- tices, there are other challenges now forcing organizations to optimize resentations managed as an integrated whole? Have you invested in and adapt their antiquated CM processes. Here are four of the most technology solutions that not only facilitate a current best-practice critical challenges:methodology, but also deliver ongoing, incremental improvement? /If you're not sure of the answers-or you're sure that your practices are 1. Need to manage disparate product data content (hardware, anything but 'Best', then this document will be of value to your team. software and requirements)Change and Con? guration Management practices originally were On the following pages you'll get a complete and clear overview of the mandated by A&D policies that called for vendors to better man-most daunting Change and Con? guration Management challenges age valuable and sensitive engineering data, including drawings, now facing the entire A&D marketplace, plus a detailed 'Deep Dive' changes, part lists, BOMs, and CAD data. This approach was a explanation of the leading industry best practices and capabilities. good start, yet it had inherent limitations due to its doc-centric With this information, A&D ? rms can, ? rst, compare your current nature-which mainly managed the ? nal "output" form of engi-practices to state-of-the-art methods, and then develop a clear road- neering data instead of the native, master content. map for implementing optimal processes for the future. In the doc-centric view of the world-a world that Product Data Introduction Management (PDM) systems refer to as a "product structure"-this content is only a document commonly known as a Bill of Material How It All Started (BOM). Today, the part- or model-centric view of the world is Con? guration Management, as a manufacturing discipline, originated replacing the 'static BOM' document with a dynamic, electronic and matured within the U.S. Department of Defense's (DOD) process (CAD-based) product structure, which can be easily sorted and of acquisition, development and sustainment programs, starting in navigated. Today, a prevalent use-case in A&D product develop-the early 1980's. ment entails routinely navigating content electronically, from the initial design content in a part structure, to the correlated manu-"W hen your business involves placing men and facturing content for that part. This ? exibility is not possible with static BOMs. women in space, an... [download for more]
