Engineering change management system: A business perspective

Engineering changes (EC) constitute a normal part of a product's life cycle. However, engineering change management has been a neglected area in the field of operations management. The purpose of this research is to introduce the necessary steps for the implementation of an effective engineering change management (ECM) system. The ECM system outlined here consists of five phases: (I) engineering change request, (2) information gathering and analysis, (3) change authorization board evaluation and approval, (4) engineering change implementation, and (5) follow-up. The optimum approach is to determine the "root cause" of the changes, and to reduce the number of changes.