Configuration Management (CM) is a growing field and focus for DoD that concentrates on establishing and maintain consistency of a system’s or product’s performance and its functional and physical attributes with its requirements, design, and operational information throughout its life per MIL-HDBK-61A.
Configuration management is critical for a variety of reasons:

• Buyers and sellers with a common basis for product acquisition and use
• Program decisions are based on accurate and current information
• Avoids erratic change management and guesswork
• Reduces product life cycle costs[/tab]

Product data management (PDM) is another focus area for DoD as it coincides with product configuration management practices. Having the correct practices in place will allow customers to manage all product technical data during the entire product life cycle. Our professionals have experience with software tools such as eRoom, a web based data management system.

PDM Advantages:

• Track and manage changes related to product data
• Improved procurement efficiency
• Improve productivity through reuse of SAME product design data

We provide professional support to clients in conducting technical reviews. Technical reviews provide a structured and organized approach to reviewing products in order to determine if they are fit for their intended use.

The advantages of Technical Reviews are:

• Technical reviews provide for a formal review system for Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) on the team to bring technical accuracy and completeness to products produced
• Technical reviews can help improve the product’s design and catch problems at an early stage
• Technical reviews can help reduce product development costs, minimize issues, and help reduce warranty and repair support costs

Specification and standard development is the documentation that describes the requested behavior of an engineering system. The documentation typically describes what is needed by the system user as well as requested properties of inputs and outputs. Our professionals have experience with drafting product requirements for automotive industry. They are familiar with Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP) processes and fully understand the impact of drafting a solid set of requirement in order to meet customer needs.

APQP focuses on:

• Up-front quality planning
• Determining if customers are satisfied by evaluating the output and supporting continual improvement

APQP consists of five phases:

• Planning
• Product Design and Development Verification
• Process Design and Development Verification
• Product and Process Validation
• Production Launch, Feedback, Assessment & Corrective Action