Engineering Documentation Control / Configuration Management Standards Manual

Introduction

Engineering Documentation Control — sometimes called Configuration Management or Product Lifecycle Management — is a key ingredient to world-class product manufacturing.

Most product manufacturing companies suffer from the “wall syndrome.” The “manufacturing side” bought ERP/Supply Chain tools; the “engineering side” bought CAD/PDM/PLM. Those software systems do not generally “talk” to each other. The engineering folks are, by and large, analytical and cautious (Ready … Aim … Fire); the manufacturing folks are, by and large, shakers, movers, and doers (Fire-Aim, Fire-Aim, Fire-Aim). The people often do not communicate very well. The manufacturing folks say that engineering “throws it over the wall.” The development engineering folks say that you cannot find anyone who knows how the product will be processed. This situation often results in a huge “wall” or “gap” between engineering and operations. A significant part of bridging the gap is to develop “make sense” standards.

There is a very scary tendency in industry today; after the loose identification of a problem, the tendency is to seek a software application solution. App mania!

Software programs may help after you understand the job that needs to be done and what process flow is best for you. Something more substantial (than software) is needed between engineering and operations — Configuration Management. This author may use various terms but will most often use “CM,” as that is the term which is becoming ...