Distributed engineering change management for allied concurrent engineering

Summary form only given. This study applies a novel engineering change management approach to allied concurrent engineering (ACE). In this context, ACE-based engineering change management should include all aspects of information sharing, data management, and process management, both within an individual enterprise and the enterprise alliance. To ensure applicability to many firms, an ACE-based engineering change management methodology was developed based on the results of allied concurrent engineering definition and characterization. Similarly, to provide a "unified solution", the methodology was developed under the concepts of enterprise integration to manage the processes, systems and information for engineering changes in an integrated fashion. This methodology includes a life cycle model for engineering change management, a distributed management framework, and a reference model for engineering change management. Based on this methodology, an ACE-based engineering change management system was developed under the principles of (i) complying with commonly acceptable modeling techniques, (ii) applying proven models and architectures, and (iii) being compatible and interoperable with other EDMS modules and enterprise systems. Establishing a fully-fledged ACE-based engineering change management system involves the following steps: (1) identify system objectives and requirements, (2) design a system framework and a software architecture, and (3) model and implement the system