Value Transforming Blog

We have seen situations where poor configuration management has led to embarrassing situations with customers. In one case, a supplier shipped parts to a relatively new customer in which neither the hardware revision nor the software version were known. The parts arrived at the customer location for demonstration by a senior sales manager–none of them […]

January 23, 2013

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by Kim H Pries Our experience shows us that configuration management lies at the very heart of professional engineering and product growth. Just to be able to run an ERP or MRP system requires a standard for nomenclature and identification of parts (including software). We mark changes to parts and software with changes to part […]

January 22, 2013

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by Kim H. Pries Some people find terms such as configuration management and change management to be confusing and they are unsure what they mean and what the difference could be. We consider change management to be a higher order concept that includes the idea of configuration management. Let’s discuss configuration management first! Classical configuration […]

January 21, 2013

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by Kim H Pries When we are engaged in prototype development during the early to late middle phases of our new product delivery process, we usually purchase components through maintenance, repairs, and operation (MRO) purchasing. This type of purchasing is managed on an as-needed basis, and often, is not automated. We purchase the parts we […]

January 15, 2013

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by Jon M Quigley When we have a short project schedule, we need to learn from our prototype as quickly as possible. Rapid prototyping is a rational approach to a shorten schedule that does not come at the risk or cost level of skipping prototypes or starting the next level of prototype before we have […]

January 14, 2013

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by Jon M Quigley Simulation activities can help evoke the requirements for a product without actually having to build the product first to learn something. Simulation need not be highly technical, though it can be. I have seen simulation of screens for an instrument cluster human machine interface (HMI) that made use of excel links […]

January 10, 2013

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by Jon M Quigley A few recent experiences have led me to believe many do not know the reason for prototype parts. Consider organizations that employ an iterative process for developing products. The automotive world typically uses this sort of product development method. In iterative product development, we build increments of the product learning from […]

January 7, 2013

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As you may have noticed, we are working on a Configuration and Change Management book. In an effort to articulate the proposition, we are using the blog temporarily to define what we seek and the benefits to those who contribute. We are looking for configuration management tools, techniques and stories. We are especially interested in […]

December 29, 2012

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by: Wally Stegall and Jon M Quigley The reason for prototypes parts is to learn something about the product before we spend larger amounts of money on the future product development. We want to know things that are not readily knowable by our immediate engineering work. The longer it takes us to learn, the longer […]

December 19, 2012

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by Jon M Quigley I sit in awe at the variety of things that can be built with Lego. One is bound only by one’s imagination. However the wonders of modularity are much more than kids play and business and engineering can learn considerable from these ideas. Even before I was playing Lego’s with my […]

December 10, 2012

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