We are often asked by Aerospace & Defense Project Managers why they can’t use engineering Product Data Management (PDM) software or enterprise Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) systems to satisfy all of their program's requirements for full-lifecycle Configuration Management. We originally addressed this topic in a 3-part series of CMsights articles…

It is no secret that levels of technical complexity and financial risk have rapidly grown within nearly every function of a modern-day aerospace and defense (A&D) contractor’s program. Today’s A&D project managers are experiencing a crushing density of complexity due to a confluence of business drivers and technology trends. As…

Your new aircraft control system has gone through all the reviews and audits (e.g. SRR, PDR, CDR, FCA and PCA as referenced in Part 1 of this CMsights article) and you are ready to deliver your first unit/lot number to your customer. You have diligently assigned Hard Ware Configuration Items…

In this series of CMsights posts from CMstat on configuration management best practices we will describe what are hardware configuration items (“CI” or “HWCI”) and where they are used. Next, we will examine how are CIs best employed by A&D contractors in configuration management software used at the program, project…

Part 2 of 3 - The importance of As-Configured Management functionality for downstream users In this latest CMsights article from CMstat on hardware configuration management software we examine one of the most important aerospace configuration management functions that downstream users of product configuration data seek in their CM tools and…

(Part 1 of 3) In this first article of a multi-part series on hardware configuration management software tools for the aerospace and defense industry we begin by summarizing the trends which have added so much complexity that can paralyze even the best defense contractors and their…

The Top Questions Executives Should Ask Their Organization In our last CMsights post we presented the case that Product Configuration Governance (PCG) deserves more attention from the executive office suite beyond what it receives from configuration management (CM) practitioners. But how does a product line executive know when issues of…

The Case for Configuration Governance: Across the A&D industry increasing attention is being demanded from executives by a growing list of governance concerns. This list include matters of financial governance, legal governance, regulatory compliance governance, ITAR and controlled goods governance, human resource governance, and now even social responsibility governance. All…

The surest way for A&D managers to become interested in CM is when production halts because of a missed change order, a supplier ships to an old rev level, logistics can’t source replacement parts, field service starts submitting warranty claims, and a customer calls to report a product performance anomaly. Or worse yet, when executives first hear about a product failure in social media or on the news because it bore catastrophic consequences.

In last month’s CMsights post we reflected on why the combination of configuration management (CM) and metrics is so problematic for CM professionals to engage and then educate their executives about as part of CM planning. We remarked this is not surprising because many managers, unfortunately, give little thought about CM…

One of the more frequent observations that we at CMstat takeaway after meeting with a prospective customer in the A&D industry is the lack of awareness in the job function of those who manage the delivery of CDRL data and documentation to their own customers. While some managers may be…

In CMstat’s recent whitepaper on “Nimble Configuration Management for the Contract Supply & Service Chain” we shared the top CM requirements for hardware configuration management heard most often over our twenty-plus years of supporting customers in the A&D industry. They are: Intuitive and easily mastered in everyday use by the...