Change process in a leading-edge technology environment

Engineering changes are perceived as a key problem in many industries, especially in the manufacturing of high performance mechatronic machinery. This paper presents the results of a case studies in a number of companies in this area, where it was felt that the engineering change process was insufficiently controlled and therefore probably less then optimal. The analysis showed that no holistic view on change management nor a definition on proper performance indicators were available to evaluate the engineering change process. A proposal for improvement of this situation is presented in this paper.