What is an Engineering Change Control (ECC)?

Once the engineering change order (ECO) has been through all the necessary reviews and received approval by all stakeholders, the change can be implemented. Depending on the nature and urgency of the change—purchasing, manufacturing, and/or supply chain teams may need to take actions ensuring the ECO is acted upon by the targeted date. Parts or subassemblies may need to be sourced and received into inventory. Changes to product processes, standard operating procedures (SOPs), work instructions, and/or manufacturing routings may need to occur. Ultimately, changes to products will be made on the factor floor during production and/or possibly in the field if the disposition of the change requires rework in the field.

The key stages of the change control process include:

• Issue identification and scoping
• Creation of an engineering change request (ECR)
• Review and approval of the ECR
• Creation of an engineering change order (ECO)
• Review and approval of the ECO
• Approval notification
• Change implementation

Engineering change management provides traceable, revision-controlled history of products as they go through the entire product lifecycle from concept through sustaining and obsolescence. Change management is important because it allows product teams to:

• Track the status of change requests
• Prioritize those requests
• Review and approve changes (ECRs and ECOs) fast and efficiently
• Ensure products are built correctly and delivered to customers on schedule

*Source: change.walkme.com