Engineering Documentation Control Handbook: Configuration Management in Industry

by Frank B. Watts

The control of engineering documentation in a manufacturing company is an important emerging discipline. It is sometimes called Configuration Management (CM). The latter term is one that has been used in conjunction with DoD/Military requirements. This book covers the subject on a generic basis that will be usable by industrial companies. Engineering Documentation Control is a significant company strategy. The methods for releasing a new product and its documentation, requesting changes to the product, making changes, and developing bills of material must be simple, fast, and accurate. Rules and guidelines are developed and explained for creating world class Engineering Documentation Control processes. Configuration Management is the communications bridge between Design Engineering and the "rest of the world;" the single most important function served by the CM organization. For the quick release of new product documentation, the ability to change the documentation and the product quickly is critical to a company's profitability. Thus, the development and implementation of a simple, make-sense, fast, accurate, and well understood CM system is an important business strategy. This book has primary emphasis on the simpler term (Engineering Documentation Control) while recognizing the near equality of the Configuration Management (CM) term.

265 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1993