A frequent question we hear from aerospace and defense industry executives is how can they perform an assessment of the performance of their organizations, programs, and products with regard to the practice of Configuration Management. CMstat has learned over our several decades that the underlying concern of managers, which triggers…

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…

A customer recently shared with us that a new-hire fresh out of engineering school asked, “Why do A&D programs need to perform so many reviews and audits; aren’t they obsolete or redundant in a world of continuous integration, AGILE development, model-based systems engineering, virtual prototyping, and digital twins?” The answer…

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…

In this month’s CMsights we asked Configuration Management practitioner, standards influencer, trainer, and author Kim Robertson to help us distill all the hype about digital twins and digital threads so we can understand their impact on as-maintained configuration management for long-life aerospace & defense equipment. Kim Robertson has over 39…

Learn more about these “Ten Configuration Management Truths for Aerospace Project Managers”... Configuration Management is the foundation for Quality Management at the product, project and program levels. CM is everyone’s responsibility, not just relegated to the engineering group or the CM expert. CM is not about the product history, or…

After the recent CMsights article on "What is a Configuration Management Plan" CMstat received several excellent questions about what should and should not go into a configuration management plan. Some readers were seeking help with developing a new CM plan from scratch, while others were attempting to perform a configuration…

In a recent CMsights post we looked back at the history of configuration management software to help understand the impact of PLM solutions when delivered as an open platform of interoperating applications. That is, instead of a single mammoth enterprise solution from a sole provider that attempts to perform every…

CMstat extends our congratulations to the SAE EIA-649 Configuration Management Standards G-33 Committee chaired by Larry Gurule on the Feb. 7 release of the very important Revision C. This consensus standard for configuration management was revised by a respected international team that brought together representatives from major domestic and foreign…

This month’s CMsights looks back at the history of Configuration Management software to provide context for understanding the impact of the movement toward PLM being delivered as an open federated platform of interoperating applications. The evolution away from huge monolithic enterprise PLM solutions – promising everything for everyone – offers…

An Aerospace Product Manager's Fable on Why Configuration Management is Quality Management Your company spent two million dollars reaching six-sigma goals by implementing the best quality management system it can afford and earning its SAE AS9100 Registration. Your CEO is so proud of this accomplishment that the company has adopted…

A common error in Configuration Management planning is thinking that if your organization has implemented PDM software with change control capabilities, or even a complete industry-focused CM solution, then you must have a plan for configuration management. This implies there must be a written Configuration Management Plan in existence. Unfortunately…

Questions regarding the differences between Configuration Management (CM) and Change Management (also CM) arise so often that we decided to address it in a CMsights post. It is not uncommon that a new A&D program manager or engineering lead may think that configuration management and change management are synonyms. If…

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 3 of 3 - In the first article in this series we summarized the aerospace business and technology trends which have added so much complexity into their mix of products, processes, and programs that risks paralyzing even the best defense contractors and their supply chain. In the last CMsights…

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…