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6.6.3 Lessons Learned from Implementing Configuration Management within Electrical/Electronic Development of an Automotive OEM
Author(s) -
Knippel Erwin,
Schulz Armin
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
incose international symposium
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2334-5837
DOI - 10.1002/j.2334-5837.2004.tb00579.x
Subject(s) - original equipment manufacturer , automotive industry , manufacturing engineering , systems engineering , engineering , computer science , aerospace engineering , operating system
In the past decade the automotive domain has encountered significant changes within its competitive environment. Automotive OEMs are forced to offer an increased number of variant models, to satisfy individual customer needs as well as constantly introduce innovative features within their products. Electrical/electronic systems play a major role enabling OEMs to address these needs. Development processes for electrical/electronic systems are moving into the focus of automotive companies. However current development approaches for these type of systems within automotive industry are only partially able to cope with the mentioned challenges and yield the necessary, high‐quality systems. Thus automotive OEMs started to restructure their development approaches for electrical/electronic systems and introduce Systems Engineering. This paper is illustrating lessons learned from implementing configuration management within electrical/electronic development as part of an major initiative at a German OEM to introduce Systems Engineering. The initiative is still on its way, therefore the lessons learned are only part of the truth. The paper will start by highlighting the current situation of the automotive industry and point out the future role of electrical/electronic systems for achieving competitive advantage. Based on this background the need for Systems Engineering, especially within electrical/electronic development will be discussed. Configuration management as a part of Systems Engineering processes will be described in general and in its application in an automotive environment. The specifics of configuration management within Electrical/electronic development of an automotive OEM will be highlighted and discussed. Afterwards the paper discusses lessons learned during conception and implementation of the configuration management building blocks into the OEMs organization. Key success factors for introducing configuration management as part of a Systems Engineering initiative into an existing process and organizational landscape are then derived from the lessons learned.