One of the principal roles of configuration management (CM) is to protect us from ourselves. In so doing, we also protect our suppliers and our customers. When high school or college students first encounter bills of materials, they experience shock and awe. An automotive wire harness with 368 leads must have a bill of materials […]

by Jon M Quigley and Wally Stegall This post is a flashback to the earlier series about prototypes (https://valuetransform.com/planning-prototype-parts). A recent event reminded me of one other area we did not cover in this series. Such is the way of the blog. Consider the organization that decides to limit the number of prototype parts to […]

by Kim H Pries When we are engaged in prototype development during the early to late middle phases of our new product delivery process, we usually purchase components through maintenance, repairs, and operation (MRO) purchasing. This type of purchasing is managed on an as-needed basis, and often, is not automated. We purchase the parts we […]

by Jon M Quigley When we have a short project schedule, we need to learn from our prototype as quickly as possible. Rapid prototyping is a rational approach to a shorten schedule that does not come at the risk or cost level of skipping prototypes or starting the next level of prototype before we have […]