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What we are given at birth, our genetic heritage, we have no choice but to accept. What we strive to be is within our conscious control and this determines both our character and the nature and direction of our development. This paper identifies and offers suggestions for meeting two of the greatest challenges in any program of self-improvement: establishing priorities, and mapping out a plan.

Cooperative Product Development is the principal mechanism for supporting Concurrent Engineering. In large organizations, cooperative product development is expected to take place with the involvement of teams of geographically separated product developers working in a distributed and heterogeneous computer environment. Communication, cooperation, and coordination are essential for cooperative product development by members of a product development team virtually co-located over a network. The coordination framework in a computer-based cooperative product development environment is responsible for communicating work, securing focus, and ensuring progress towards a goal. A necessary function of the coordination framework, provided by a Constraint Management System, is the ability to capture and manage the constraints in the product development process. The development of a prototype Constraint Management System is discussed in this paper.

In the last few years, we have seen a tremendous increase in the rise in product complexity due to advances in technology and aircraft system functionality enhancement. The Model-based Design (MBD) process has helped manage the complexity of these systems while making product development faster by bringing more effective tools and methods to the entire process. Developing software using MBD has required extensive, sophisticated tool-chains that allow for efficient rapid controls prototyping, automatic code generation, and advanced validation and verification techniques using model-in-the-loop (MIL), software-in-the-loop (SIL), and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) for both component testing and integration testing. However, the MBD process leads to generation of large volumes of data artifacts and work-products throughout the V-Cycle.

This paper sketches a model based E/E-architecture analysis and design process for the development of distributed in-vehicle systems. Together with a model based system development, the sketched analysis and design process results in a cost-effective E/E-architecture which fulfills all the requirements for the developed in-vehicle system. As an example scenario, the integration of a new feature into a car, which requires integrating a new distributed function into the existing E/E-architecture of the car, is shown.

Management of engineering for profit is examined from the establishment of company objectives in the advanced planning stage through the planning and control of major programs. Five major areas are discussed: advanced program planning, managing small projects, developing the engineering processes leading to integrated major program plans, controlling the engineering effort, and managing the engineering rates. These five areas range from highly creative concepts to detailed control techniques. Approaches which have proven useful for reducing costs and maximizing profits are outlined. The delineation of authorities, responsibilities, and accountabilities is made where applicable. Actual examples from existing projects are included. The management techniques which are described are considered generally applicable to any large aerospace company where the major target is the capture and efficient execution of large complex programs.

As the percentage of work performed by Contract Labor Teams increases nationally, the necessity to understand how to manage this group increases for both the users and those contemplating their services. Insight into the motivation of the participants can be utilized to define a strategy that maximizes value obtainable from the Contract Labor Team.

The ISO 26262 standard for functional safety was first released in 2011 and has been widely incorporated by most OEMs and Tier1 suppliers. The design and conformance of the product to functional safety standards is strongly intertwined with the product development cycle and needs to be carefully managed. The consideration for functional safety needs to begin right from the product’s concept phase through engineering and production and finally decommissioning. The application of the standard in a project can bring significant challenges especially to managers who are relatively new to the standard. This paper provides some guidelines on the key tasks involved in managing ISO26262 in projects and some ways to approach them. The paper is expected to help managers manage ISO26262 compliant projects. The paper also tries to come up with a metric that can be used for resource estimation for implementing ISO26262 in projects.

The international standard ISO 26262 for functional safety of road vehicles claims processes and requirements for the entire product lifecycle of automotive electric and electronic systems. The demanded activities and work products within the standard are highly interconnected. Additionally, references to exemplarily external quality management standards or commonly recognized industry sources are given. Therefore, the application of functional safety processes in distributed development is challenging regarding description, understanding, analysis and planning of processes. To overcome these inconveniences, we provide a meta model extension for model-based architecture description languages regarding process description, organizational structures and resource assignment. This is related to the established “Business Process Model and Notation” (BPMN) according to ISO/IEC 19510:2013.

Human error cannot be eliminated, but it can be better managed. Evaluating human error or human performance problems and correcting the root causes can help preclude recurrence. The Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO), working with several members and participant utilities in an extended pilot program, has developed a nonpunitive program designed to identify, evaluate, and correct situations that cause human performance errors. The program is called the Human Performance Evaluation System (HPES). Its primary goal is to improve human reliability in overall nuclear plant operations by reducing human error through correction of the conditions that cause the errors. Workers at participating nuclear utilities are encouraged to report their errors and a specially trained plant coordinator investigates and recommends actions to correct the root causes of these errors.

In all major markets, the legislation on emissions (CO2, NOx, and PM) and on pass-by noise limits have been drastically lowered over the last years and will be even lower in the near future. This will have an enormous impact on the design of future passenger cars, their powertrains, and finally their exhaust systems with an inherent cost penalty. Moreover, the individual market requirements in Europe, Asia and the Americas differ in some respect often calling for individual variants. The increasing number of vehicle models and platform derivatives e.g. sedan, hatchback, coupe, convertible, sports utility vehicle, cross-over etc. leads to a huge variety of exhaust systems even within a single OEM platform let alone a whole OEM product portfolio. This causes significant effort in development, tooling, manufacturing, part handling, and logistics. The Active Noise Cancellation technology (ANC) has been investigated in the automotive industry for many years.

Fulfilling the goal and scope of a life cycle inventory (LCI) requires hundreds of thousands of discrete data inputs to be consolidated into a useful form. The planning and execution of data collection activities is therefore a critical aspect of ensuring the quality of an LCI study. This paper highlights how the members of The Aluminum Association and the Aluminum Association of Canada managed the data collection process for the United States Automotive Materials Partnership's Life Cycle Assessment Special Topics Group (USAMP/LCA). Overcoming the challenge of meeting the USAMP data quality requirements with inputs from over 200 reporting locations in nine countries on five continents is examined. This paper is one of six SAE publications discussing the results and execution of the USCAR AMP Generic Vehicle LCI. The papers in this series are (Overview of results 982160, 982161, 982162, 982168, 982169, 982170).

International Space Station life support hardware is controlled mainly from the ground by executing standard operating procedures. While some on-board software exists for safety purposes, most commands are sent from ECLSS ground controllers to achieve mission objectives. This will prove unwieldy for extended operations with increasing time delays. This paper presents a new approach to encoding standard operating procedures that provides a path to greater autonomy in life support operations. Software tools will allow for adjustable automation of procedures from either the ground or on-board. The Cascade Distiller System (CDS) being tested at NASA Johnson Space Center is used as an example system.

On future UAVs it is envisaged that the power requirements of all on-board electrical systems will increase. In most flight (mission) situations the installed power generation will have adequate capacity to operate the aircraft. It is possible that during abnormal situations such as coolant blockage the generators on-board may be forced to operate under very high load conditions. The main failure mechanism for a generator is overheating and subsequent disintegration of windings, hence the research problem being addressed here is to manage the loads upon the generator to prevent overheats. The research presented here summarizes the modeling of the generator and formation of the load management system. Results are presented showing the system reallocating loads after a fault during flight, preventing overheat of the generators and successfully completing the mission.

Managing Man-in-the-Loop simulation projects has become a complicated process requiring a combination of technical skills, management techniques, and team work between various interested parties. The most critical aspects of this process are present in this paper; statement of requirements, planning and design, implementation and execution.

General characteristics of a microcomputer project are examined and a singular set of management problems typical of such a project is derived. Several practices and procedures intended to control these problems and procedures are presented.

Managing the multiple accreditation and registration programs required by industry today requires considerable resources. An analysis of the similarities and differences between programs such as ISO 9000, QS-9000, ARD9000, NADCAP, ISO Guide 25, and the Fastener Quality Act will allow one system to be developed that will meet the multiple requirements of multiple accreditation plans. Understanding the different audit structures and styles of various programs and accreditation bodies allows you to manage the accreditation process instead of you being managed by the accreditation process.

Managing uncertainty is an integral part of making well-informed engineering decisions. When formulating a design problem, many of the variables and models contain epistemic uncertainty, uncertainty due to lack of knowledge. If this lack of knowledge is significant, it may be advantageous to acquire additional information before making a design decision. In this paper, we develop a framework for identifying which sources of epistemic uncertainty should be reduced to improve the overall quality of the design decision. Using principles of information economics, utility theory, and probability bounds analysis, we determine how much additional information should be acquired for each uncertain quantity in the decision problem. Our approach is illustrated with an example for the environmentally benign design of an electric vehicle.

Personalized solutions are key to achieving customer satisfaction. The automotive segment is on the cusp of feature growth brought about by new advances in technology at an unprecedented level. The Automotive industry uses process frameworks such as ASPICE to manage product lifecycle phases involving requirements, change request management, software development, systems testing and quality assurance. ASPICE, however, does not provide a framework that enables management of complexity arising from product variation in the Systems, Hardware, Mechanical and Software Competencies, in order to meet customer expectations. Customer expectations involve functional features and non-functional features. Adding to this complexity is the scope of Variant Management whereby a feature is enabled or disabled for a specific market based on the region and vehicle architecture. Feature requirement within a competency group can involve multiple domains for realization.

Managing regulatory content is a complex process for any industry, but particularly for the automotive industry, which is heavily regulated. Several approaches for managing content are discussed along with implications for the industry. The response of an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) to the recent European Parliament End-of-Life Vehicle Directive (EU 2000/53/EC-ELVs)1 is discussed from a North American perspective as well as trickle down expectations for the automotive supply base. Design, sourcing and labeling issues associated with the ELV directive as well as domestic regulations are discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss how the requirements management process can be improved by adopting an object-oriented approach. It will also discuss the advantages and benefits that can be derived when requirements are treated as objects, captured at their source, stored in a central repository; and when requirement changes are automatically transmitted to all stakeholders.