An Introduction To Engineering Change Management
Engineering change management (ECM for short) is the process of requesting, evaluating alternatives, implementation and reviewing of changes to any given system or product. The change can be done totally or can affect only a small part of the product such as its component, assembly or material.
Changes form part of most products nowadays especially the ones that consist of rapidly evolving technologies. They represent both an engine of innovation, opportunities of benefits, but can also generate cost and delays.
The generic engineering change management process is normally made up of 6 phases.
Engineering change request
The first thing that will take place is that a formal request for engineering change must be made to help clarify the problem clearly.
Alternative solutions to the requested change
Alternatives to the ECM are evaluated and the best one is normally taken.
Alternatives are evaluated in terms of costs and benefits
All the alternatives should be evaluated in terms of cost and benefits in relation with the other department affected by the change.
Approval of Solution
Once a solution seems favorable it needs to be approved by the appropriate managerial department,
Implementing the change
Once approval has been granted the change request becomes a change order and needs to be propagated across the whole organization. The changes can be made either straight away or in some cases in small phase.
The review stage
The change process is monitored to make sure that everything went out as planned and all the necessary information is documented for use in the future.
The steps are the most generic ones but can vary in some situations.
Written by Robert Bellarmine for
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