Engineering Documentation Control Handbook: Configuration Management for Industry

Control of engineering documentation, sometimes called Configuration Management (CM) especially in the defense industries, is critical to world-class manufacturing survival. This new Second Edition of a highly successful engineering documentation handbook is one of the best blueprints for constructive, efficient EDC/CM ever published. Use the Engineering Documentation Control Handbook to get on track right away and make the release of new products and their documentation flow smoothly and easily. The book is packed with specific methods that can be applied quickly and accurately to almost any industry and any product to control documentation, request changes to the product, make those changes and develop bills of material. The result is a powerful communications bridge between engineering and "the rest of the world" that makes rapid changes in products and documentation possible. With the help of the simple techniques in the handbook, companies can gain and hold their competitive advantages in a world that demands flexibility and quick reflexes -- and has no sympathy for delays. The new edition contains substantial additions worked into the book and several new chapters. However, the thrust of the book retains the same focus on basics, rules and reasons. The author emphasizes that EDC or CM must be recognized as a key business strategy, and the days of "throwing it over the wall" are gone forever.

Frank Watts has over forty-eight years of industrial and consultation experience as a design engineer, industrial engineer, manufacturing engineer, systems analyst, project manager, and in management. He founded his own specialist configuration management company to provide specific expertise in product release, change control, bills of material and other engineering documentation control issues.

Formally a director of engineering services, a director of operations and a director of manufacturing engineering, Watts has worked for Caterpillar, Collins Radio, Control Data, Storage Technology, UFE and Archive. He has guided the development of engineering change control processes at numerous companies and made significant contributions towards improving new product release processes, installing MRP/ERP systems and new numbering systems, as well as helping companies attain a single BOM database and guided reengineering of CM processes. He is an NDIA Certified Configuration and Data Manager, author of several magazine articles and author of the Engineering Documentation Control Handbook and CM Metrics.