8.3.2 Use of Technical Business Practices by Geographically Separated Teams to Facilitate Concurrent Engineering of Ultraquality Systems (LA‐UR‐05‐8500)

Abstract

AbstractIn 1997, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) undertook the development of an architecture of standards and requirements to standardize the engineering design and manufacturing of ultraquality weapon systems. This architecture, known as the Technical Business Practice (TBP) system, was implemented in 1999. The TBP system is centered around a concurrent engineering philosophy and based on a Product Realization Process methodology which is broken into four process steps: Definition, Development, Delivery, and Support.The four‐step concurrent engineering approach is accomplished through multi‐disciplinary teams known as Product Realization Teams (PRT) which are comprised of managers and subject matter experts from across the Nuclear Weapons Complex. Depending on the breadth and complexity of the engineering tasks being executed, PRTs can be subdivided into sub‐PRTs or Task Teams. Both sub‐PRTs and Task Teams tend to have a “component‐focus” versus the “system focus” of the PRTs. Using the architecture of TBPs, focused around a concurrent engineering philosophy employed by PRTs, execution of nuclear weapon programs has become more efficient, consistent, and comparable across the Nuclear Weapons Complex.