Manufacturing leaders know that each wasted minute in the product development process chips away at the bottom line. But what’s the solution? Change requests and change orders aren’t going to disappear any time soon. Yet, handling engineering change orders (ECOs) and engineering change requests (ECRs) in a manual way isn’t a recipe for success. Here are just a few of the challenges associated with manual processes:
- No transparency into the status of processes and projects
- Lack of traceability of process steps
- No realistic assessment of the impact of changes
- Insufficient information to prioritize actions appropriately
Experts estimate that engineering changes can consume one third to one half of total engineering capacity and represent 20% to 50% of total tool costs in manufacturing.
Implementing an automated change management system can be a game changer for manufacturing firms. This type of solution brings discipline to change processes and stores all information in one place. The result is instant product and process insight, visibility into the financial impact of changes, traceability of changes, and more.
To learn more about automating engineering change orders and proven solutions for small and medium sized businesses, download our white paper: The Executive’s Guide to Managing ECOs.
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