Mario8a, the second page brings it all together. The Design Engineer has a huge responsibility at every step of the design stage right on through Sustaining Engineering. That means after the handoff to manufacturing, the documentation should be as self explanatory as possible so there is a complete audit trail for every ECO/ECN with the DE's authorizing signature. Suppose as a DE, you were not allowed imput into the operator's manual or troubleshooting guide because they were not under Document or Revision control. Now imagine, you wrote the first guide and someone changed it without your knowledge. If there is a problem in the field with the integrity of the guide, it will be considered your problem because your name is on it. But, if you had to authorize any changes and bump the revision to match the latest BOM build, the blame game won't even get started and more importantly, the customer has the right troubleshooting guide for the correct BOM build.
ThinkNThanks has identified the crux of the material presented. I also share the sentiment that this looks cumbersome, however, if I may suggest, cumbersome implies problematic in much the same way an overstuffed suitcase may be heavy, but when you get to where you are going, you have everything you need and you don't have to make extra trips to the store, interrupting your planned get-away, and changing your schedule. In fact, I am working on a prototype build first board, first BOM, and I am adding all the things we talked about right up front.
On another level, this level of documentation lends itself to configurable BOMs quite ideally. Highly optioned products using a configurable BOM front end becomes as easy as picking items off the store shelf and dropping them in your shopping cart. I suspect Dell Computers are configured, assembled, and packaged in just this manner. In short, doing all the heavy lifting up front, builds muscle into the whole company and allows significant time and effort savings when the company's volumes and schedules are becoming more critical when the bulk of the effort needs to be focused on manufacturing and not documentation. Documentation Control pays for itself in a very short time because the long-term efficiencies gained more than cover the extended investment up front.
Cost of making very good docuemntation and bullet proof products are very high. If customer is ready to pay for this price, company can perform it. However, customer is so short of money, it is difficult to justify very complete documentation and quality.
The benefits of a comprehensive item master depend more on where the product is in its lifecycle no matter what the size of the organization. Generally the further a product is out of R&D, the more beneficial a stable BOM is. Peripheral items, such as documents and the contents of flash memory, benefit from an item master that can be accessed and administered by both product management and marketing.
I think the focus of this post is on Cost Saving strategies. At time, the organizations try to drive for cost reduction on the products, they only aim at DE and CM levels but did not focus on Documents Control. I think the DE doesn’t have to drive the process, it is not their function anyway, but the expectation is DE has to work in detail with Document Control to implement the process. We all know “garbage in is garbage out”, that why can’t throw the Document Control out of the Cost Saving Plan or deliver the great products. I think this should be done at any small or large size of organization.
I agree with you that this works great with a large company. Some smaller companies would have issues with the time and money it would take to implement a system like this.
This is good for large organization. However, it needs significant man power and time. If you work in design department, most of work finally ends up with design engineer. How can we find a way to implement this procedures without invoving design engineers?
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Thailand Stages a Comeback Join EBN contributor Jennifer Baljko on Thursday August 23, 2012, at 11:00 a.m. EST for a live chat on how electronic manufacturers in Thailand have shored up their supply chain to reduce the impact of future natural disasters.
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Microsoft Surface: Potential Winners & Losers What are the implications for the electronics industry supply chain of Microsoft Corp.'s decision to launch its own tablet PC? Join industry veteran and EE Times' systems and OEM expert Rick Merritt on Tuesday, July 3, at 12:00 pm EDT for a Live Chat on this subject.
Join EBN contributor Jennifer Baljko on Thursday August 23, 2012, at 11:00 a.m. EST for a live chat on how electronic manufacturers in Thailand have shored up their supply chain to reduce the impact of future natural disasters.
Peter Drucker famously said "Trying to predict the future is like trying to drive down a country road at night with no lights while looking out the back window." Yet in the razor's-edge world of electronics—with a lean supply chain and just-in-time demands—the need to know the future is vital.
You've heard the saying "the No. 1 supply chain risk is your people." That hasn't always been the case. But today's complex global supply chain requires a new type of multitalented employee. It's one who understands, finance, marketing, economics, is savvy with technology, graceful with relationships and can think analytically.
Where are these people? Are universities properly preparing the next generation supply chain professionals? How do train your existing workforce for these new, demanding positions?
Brian Fuller, editor-in-chief of EBN, will lead a 60-minute Avnet Velocity panel discussion that will ask and answer these and other questions swirling around today's supply-chain talent challenges.
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