Abstract

Engineering changes (ECs) are part of any Engineer-to-order (ETO) project. The engineering change management (ECM) literature provides various tools, methods and best practices, and this study investigates ECM practices in the ETO production environment. Through two exploratory case studies, we identify five main ECM challenges; EC impact analysis, EC data management, internal and external collaboration and communication, and EC post-implementation review. Both companies have implemented the main ECM steps recommended in literature but there are considerable weaknesses in the execution of the post-implementation review process. More ETO cases are needed to confirm the findings and investigate how ECM tools and approaches vary by different dimensions.

Highlights

  • Engineering changes (EC) will often occur throughout the entire product life-cycle of a product [1]

  • engineering change management (ECM) refers to the organization, control, and execution of ECs, and covers the entire product life cycle from the selection of a concept to the wind-down of production and support [2]

  • Catalogue vessels do not allow for ECs from customers so this study focused only on the company’s customized vessel segment

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Summary

Introduction

Engineering changes (EC) will often occur throughout the entire product life-cycle of a product [1]. ECs are modifications to structure, behaviour and function of a technical artefact that have already been released during the design process [2, 3]. Such modifications can be triggered by customers, suppliers, governmental bodies, a company’s internal departments, and by market drivers such as technology. The implementation of engineering change management (ECM) is argued to reduce negative impacts such as cost and time overruns [3]. ECM refers to the organization, control, and execution of ECs, and covers the entire product life cycle from the selection of a concept to the wind-down of production and support [2]. Research has found that ECM varies by industrial sector [5], suggesting that the application of tools, approaches and techniques vary by production volume (one-offs versus mass production), the degree of customer involvement, the degree of internal and external uncertainty, and the inherent product complexity

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