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5.5.1 Re‐engineering the Prime Contract Office
Author(s) -
Mawby Dave,
Brooks Barry
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
incose international symposium
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2334-5837
DOI - 10.1002/j.2334-5837.1998.tb00097.x
Subject(s) - rework , context (archaeology) , concurrent engineering , prime (order theory) , concurrency , computer science , product (mathematics) , process (computing) , set (abstract data type) , process management , business , systems engineering , engineering management , operations management , engineering , mathematics , distributed computing , embedded system , operating system , programming language , scheduling (production processes) , paleontology , geometry , combinatorics , biology
Concurrent engineering (CE) is reasonably well understood in a product design and build environment and can yield significant benefits in terms of shorter lead time, lower costs and reduced rework. Large complex projects typically use some form of prime contract office (PCO) to manage and coordinate the delivery of a product/project against a set of customer requirements. This PCO environment is characterised by the management of multiple subcontractors through the disciplines of systems engineering (SE) and project management. A traditional SE approach (as typified by the waterfall diagram) tends to imply sequential activities rather than the concurrency associated with design/build activities. So, does the more complex environment of a PCO still offer opportunities for significant improvements from CE? Evidence suggests that these improvements can be made in the PCO environment. This paper demonstrates how the ‘process’, ‘people’ and 'systems' changes that deliver CE can be applied in the PCO context and outlines a framework for successful PCO operation.