Change management (also referred to as Engineering Change Management) is the process of creating, reviewing and gaining formal approval for engineering change requests (ECRs), engineering change orders (ECOs), and engineering change notifications (ECNs).
There are severl types of engineering changes including:
The basic principles of engineering change management are:
*Source: https://news.aucotec.com/6-principles-engineering-change-order-management/
Change management involves the following steps:
*Source: https://change.walkme.com/engineering-change-management/
Read our guides to effective change and revision control, master change management with our best practices articles and learn how to implement an effective change management system
Engineering drawings are only one of the impacts of product changes. One design change can impact bills of materials (BOMs), manufacturing instructions, supplier documentation, quality records, regulatory documentation and customer deliverables. Without a structured change management process, teams often end up using emails, spreadsheets, or disconnected systems to communicate updates, leading to higher risks of errors, delays, and inconsistent product information.
Connecting Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) and Quality Management Systems (QMS) empowers organizations to manage change from a single source of truth. Engineering, quality, manufacturing, supply chain and regulatory teams can review proposed changes, assess downstream impacts, electronically route approvals and maintain full traceability through the entire change process. This fosters more collaboration and helps manufacturers stay compliant and reduce the time it takes to implement changes.
Accurate and up-to-date product information is essential for manufacturing companies to produce products consistently and efficiently. Effective change management ensures that approved design changes, manufacturing documentation, work instructions, supplier requirements, and quality processes are updated together prior to production. This helps avoid production delays, scrap, rework and the use of obsolete product information.
Modern cloud PLM and QMS solutions connect engineering changes with quality processes such as corrective and preventive actions (CAPAs), nonconformance management, complaint handling, and audit records. By integrating product development and quality activities, manufacturers gain complete visibility into the impact of every change, improve regulatory compliance, and create a comprehensive history of product decisions throughout the product lifecycle.
