Guest editorial

Excerpt

Most artefacts, products and complex systems are designed by modification of prior designs to reduce the complexity of the development process and the risk inherent in product development. Even designs that appear at first to be completely new are often combinations of pre-existing components and technologies. Innovation is often focussed on specific components or systems as companies aim to reuse as much as possible, maximising the benefits they gain from minimising changes to the product. Yet changes to existing products and systems are an integral part of the life cycle of all designed products and systems. Designs are upgraded to meet evolving customer needs. New versions are generated to address the requirements of specific customers groups and incorporate new ideas for new markets, to improve performance, cost and lifecycle properties and to eradicate problems with earlier designs or those arising during the design and verification process. In each of these cases some parts or sub-systems of the products remain constant while others are modified. In carrying out these changes companies are anxious to avoid unnecessary knock-on effects to other parts of the products, especially those that are already frozen. Targeted engineering change is an opportunity for companies to adapt and innovate; and managing and controlling changes is a means of reducing design effort and cost. Engineering change is however also often the response to problems with the product or its product process. The process of carrying out changes is similar across different firms regardless of the cause, but carried out by different participants in the change process and with different attitudes. …