Characteristics of changeable systems across value chains

Abstract

Engineering changes (ECs) are inevitable for businesses due to increasing innovation, shorter lifecycles, technology and process improvements and cost reduction initiatives. The ECs could propagate and cause further changes due to existing system dependencies, which can be challenging. Hence, change management (CM) is a relevant discipline, which aims to reduce the impact of changes. EC assessment methods form the basis of CM that support in assessing system dependencies and the impact of changes. However, understanding of which factors influence the changeability across value chains (VCs) is limited. This research adopted a VC approach to EC assessment. Dependencies in products and processes were captured, followed by risk (i.e. likelihood x impact) assessment of ECs using change prediction method (CPM). Four industrial case studies were conducted (3x automotive, 1x furniture manufacturing) to identify design (product) and manufacturing (process) elements with high risk to be affected by ECs. Based on the case results, characteristics were identified that influence changeability across VC. This contributed to the CM domain while businesses could also use the results to assess ECs across VC, and improve the design of products and processes by increasing their changeability across VC e.g. by proactive decoupling or reactive handling of system dependencies.

KEYWORDS:

• Changeability
• product architecture
• engineering change prediction
• manufacturing
• system dependencies
• design structure matrix

Acknowledgements

The research presented in this article was carried out as part of Industrial Systems of the Future Research Programme and Advanced Manufacturing Supply Chain Initiative. The authors are very thankful to the case study companies for their active engagement throughout this research, and reviewers and colleagues for their constructive and helpful comments. The authors are particularly most grateful to Dr. Rehana Kousar (Cambridge Biomakespace and Cambridge Global Challenges Initiative) for her help in improving the models and figures.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, UK under Advanced Manufacturing Supply Chain Initiative (AMSCI).

Notes on contributors

Tariq Masood

Tariq Masood, PhD, MSc, BSc is a Senior Research Associate at the University of Cambridge Department of Engineering, where he is affiliated with the Engineering Design Centre and the Institute for Manufacturing. He is the founding director of the research programmes on the Industrial Systems of the Future, and the Disaster Resilient Operations (DROPS), a co-founder and an interest group champion at the Cambridge Global Challenges strategic research initiative. His research interests are in the general areas of intelligent manufacturing and engineering design, particularly topics related to system design, process and change management, smart factories, Industry 4.0 technology adoption and smart grids. He is also interested in operations and supply chain resilience, through-life engineering service systems, and global challenges addressing UN Sustainable Development Goals. He also sits on the editorial advisory board of IET Collaborative Intelligent Manufacturing journal.

Maximilian Kern

Maximilian Kern, MPhil, MSc, BSc is a management consultant at McKinsey & Company with particular interest in manufacturing and finance. In 2017/18, he studied Industrial Systems, Manufacture and Management (MPhil) at the Institute for Manufacturing, University of Cambridge. In his Master's thesis, he developed a value chain approach to engineering change assessment to capture dependencies in both the product and processes. He is also interested in smart factories, operations and supply chain resilience and through-life engineering service systems.

P. John Clarkson

John Clarkson is Professor of Engineering Design at the University of Cambridge, Director of the Cambridge Engineering Design Centre and Professor of Healthcare Systems at TU Delft. His research interests are in the general area of engineering design, particularly the development of design methodologies to address specific design issues, for example, process management, change management, healthcare design and inclusive design. He is currently leading a team with the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Royal College of Physicians, The Royal College of Anaesthetists and the Academy of Medical Sciences to develop ‘Engineering Better Care’, a systems approach to health and care redesign and improvement, and an accompanying toolkit for ‘Improving Improvement’.