
Configuration Management for Senior Managers
Essential Product Configuration and Lifecycle Management for Manufacturing
- 1st Edition - April 21, 2015
- Imprint: Butterworth-Heinemann
- Author: Frank B. Watts
- Language: English
- Paperback ISBN:9 7 8 - 0 - 1 2 - 8 0 2 3 8 2 - 2
- eBook ISBN:9 7 8 - 0 - 1 2 - 8 0 2 6 0 1 - 4
Configuration Management for Senior Managers is written to help managers in product manufacturing and engineering environments identify the ways in which they can streamline their… Read more

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is written to help managers in product manufacturing and engineering environments identify the ways in which they can streamline their products and processes through proactive documentation control and product lifecycle management.Experienced consultant Frank Watts gives a practitioner’s view tailored to the needs of management, without the textbook theory that can be hard to translate into real-world change. Unlike competing books that focus on CM within software and IT environments, this engineering-focused resource is packed with examples and lessons learned from leading product development and manufacturing companies, making it easy to apply the approach to your business.
- Developed to help you identify key policies and practices needing attention in your organization to establish and maintain consistency of processes and products, and to reduce operational costs
- Focused on configuration management (CM) within manufacturing and engineering settings, with relevant examples from leading companies
- Written by an experienced consultant and practitioner with the knowledge to provide real-world insights and solutions, not just textbook theory
Engineering executives and managers within product manufacturing environments, including project managers, design and development mangers, and quality managers. Consultants and trainers working in related areas.
- List of Figures
- Preface
- Policies and Critical Practices
- Chapter One. Introduction
- Chapter Two. Why CM
- The Dirty Half Dozen
- Process Speed
- Throw It over the Wall
- Quality Control for Engineering
- Summary
- Chapter Three. CM System, Where to Start
- Process Measurements
- Distributed CM
- Organization
- Chain of Command
- CM Manager
- ISO Standards and Certification
- DOD/Military Standards
- Best of the Best Practices
- Standards Responsibility
- People Required
- Function Name
- Responsibilities
- Reengineer or Continuous Improvement
- Plan to Improve
- Summary
- Chapter Four. CM and Software
- Software’s Current Condition
- Modern Trend
- Process Redesign before Software
- CM’s Roll in Software
- What CM Should Control—and Not
- Software (SW) and Firmware (FW) Control
- Summary
- Chapter Five. Standard Foundation Blocks
- Standards Writing
- General Standards
- Acronyms and Definitions
- Part Numbers—Significant or Not
- Class Coding
- Interchangeability and the Part Number
- Interchangeability/Part Number/Rev Change
- Item/Document Numbering
- Interchangeability Discussed
- Interchangeability Defined
- Ideal Part/Document Number
- Assignment of Part Number and Revision Level
- Revision Levels
- Revision Control
- Part Marking
- Cognizant Engineer
- Approved Manufacturers List
- Deviations
- Spare Parts
- Publications
- Nameplate/Serial Number/Labels
- Transmissions to Customers
- Summary
- Chapter Six. Signatures on CM Documents
- Involvement versus Signature
- One Author and One Acceptor
- Signing the BOM or Parts List
- Just In Time
- Who Obtains Signatures?
- Quality Assurance Role
- Technical Release
- Signature Alternatives
- Summary
- Chapter Seven. Process Improvement
- Process Speed—Case History
- Case Study Change Process Reengineering
- Process Time Expectations
- Teams
- Change Boards
- Forms
- Customer Orders
- Backlogs/Work in Process
- Age Reports
- Summary
- Chapter Eight. Release Process
- Engineering and Company Phases
- Phases of Release
- Release in Lead Time
- Lead Time Release Performance
- Team in Release
- Signatures on Releases
- Release Phase Chart
- Rules for Release
- Product Specification Release
- Contract/Planning Phase
- Design and Development Phase
- Pilot Phase
- Production Phase
- Obsolete
- Software Release
- Release Process Standards
- Release Metrics
- Release Process Quality
- Release Process Flow
- Release Time and Volume Measurement
- Summary
- Chapter Nine. Bill of Material Process
- Design Data
- New Product BOM
- Product Cost
- PLM and ERP
- One BOM Entry
- Operations BOM Data
- Engineering-Friendly Parts List
- BOM Content
- Structuring the BOM
- Evolve the BOM
- Just-In-Time BOM
- Structuring Firmware and Software
- Features and Options
- The Perfect BOM
- BOM Work Flow
- BOM Standards
- BOM Metrics
- Summary
- Chapter Ten. Request for Change Process
- Separate Request Process
- Does Your Request Process Work?
- Cost Reduction and Improvements
- Screening Requests
- Request Review Team
- Request Work Flow
- Request Standards
- Request Metrics
- Failure Reporting
- Summary
- Chapter Eleven. Change Cost/Payback
- Cost of Change
- Real Cost Reductions
- Design and Development Costs
- Operations and Field Service Costs
- Part Costs
- Cost Policy
- Responsibility for Estimating Cost
- Cost Work Flow
- Cost Estimating Standards
- Summary
- Chapter Twelve. Change Management
- Managing Changes
- Fast Change
- Get-Arounds
- Change Team
- Redline Markups for Change
- One–One–One–One Rule
- Urgency/Class/Type
- Software Changes
- Manufacturing, Quality, and Service Documents
- Impacts of Change
- Technical Signatures on Changes
- Change Package
- Technical Release: Point of No Return
- Rev Level
- Updating the Master Documents
- Queuing Changes to the Master
- Effectivity
- Effectivity Volatility
- Tracing Changes
- Who and How to Trace
- Old Design Parts
- Closing the Change
- Obsolete
- Change Standards
- Change Work Flow
- Change Metrics
- Case Study
- Change Quality Metrics
- Summary
- Chapter Thirteen. Field Change Process
- Safety Recalls
- Changes to Retrofit or Not
- Classification of Field Change
- Field Change Order
- Field Instruction Writing
- Field Change Flow
- Field Change Metrics
- Field Change Standards
- Summary
- Chapter Fourteen. Take It to the Bank
- Benefits
- Critical to Success
- Index
- Edition: 1
- Published: April 21, 2015
- Imprint: Butterworth-Heinemann
- No. of pages: 180
- Language: English
- Paperback ISBN: 9780128023822
- eBook ISBN: 9780128026014
FW
Frank B. Watts
Formally a director of engineering services, a director of operations and a director of manufacturing engineering, Watts has worked for Caterpillar, Collins Radio, Control Data, Storage Technology, UFE and Archive. He has guided the development of engineering change control processes at numerous companies and made significant contributions towards improving new product release processes, installing MRP/ERP systems and new numbering systems, as well as helping companies attain a single BOM database and guided reengineering of CM processes. He is an NDIA Certified Configuration and Data Manager, author of several magazine articles and author of the Engineering Documentation Control Handbook and CM Metrics.