Configuration Management Metrics: Product Lifecycle and Engineering Documentation Control Measurements

Configuration Management (CM) has become a key strategy for successful manufacturing companies. Controlling the design documentation throughout its lifecycle and knowing what is in the product is imperative for quickly moving a new product to the marketplace, identifying and making necessary changes as fast as possible. CM is similarly important to efficient, high quality and low cost supply chain and production processes. It is also critical to maintenance, repair, retrofit, service parts provisioning as well as the elephant in the room – liability protection. Fast, accurate, efficient, documented, measured and well understood Configuration Management is also critical to profitability.

Frank Watts' Configuration Management Metrics gets engineers and managers up and running with Configuration Management measurement, reporting and benchmarking strategies designed to deliver world-class manufacturing outcomes.

About the Author Frank Watts is a consultant with nearly 50 years of industrial and consulting experience. He has founded his own company to specialize in Configuration Management. Mr. Watts has guided the development of the engineering change control process at many companies, making significant contributions to improve new product release processes, install MRP/ERP systems and new numbering systems, and help companies attain a single BOM database, and guide reengineering of the Configuration Management processes. He is author of three editions of the Engineering Documentation Control Handbook.

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• Provides detailed guidance on developing and implementing measurement systems and reports
• Demonstrates methods of graphing and charting data, with benchmarks
• A practical resource for the development of Engineering Documentation Control processes
• Includes basic principles of Product Lifecycle processes and their measurement

Formally a Director of Engineering Services, Director of Operations and a Director of Manufacturing Engineering, Frank has also managed Configuration Management, Cost Estimating, Industrial Engineering, Test Engineering, Pilot Production and Repair Operations. He has contributed as a Design Engineer, Industrial Engineer, Manufacturing Engineer, Systems Analyst and Project Manager.

Frank has guided the development of the engineering change control process at many companies and made significant contributions toward improving the new product release process, installed MRP/ERP systems, new numbering systems, helped companies attain a single BOM database and guided reengineering of the CM processes. His industrial experience was with Caterpillar, Collins Radio, Control Data, Storage Technology, UFE and Archive. He has presented seminars on the subject to over 3,500 product manufacturing people. He is an NDIA Certified Configuration and Data Manager, author of several magazine articles and author of a book - Engineering Documentation Control Handbook third edition copyright 2008. This book has sold over 10,000 copies and, according to one reviewer, “Sets the Stage for Innovation.”