Configuration Management – A Core Competence for Successful through-life Systems Engineering and Engineering Services

Through-life engineering services depend on capabilities to track and trace long-living systems and their components throughout the lifecycle. System configurations need to be known to (re)engineer, build, operate, maintain, and dispose systems in a sustainable way. Configuration Management (CM) is an approach to control system configurations with dedicated engineering processes, methods and tools – today foremost supported by information systems. This paper motivates CM implementation for through-life engineering services and systems engineering and related topics such as PSS (Product-Service Systems) and MRO (Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul). CM fundamentals and related engineering activities are introduced briefly. Different CM views and daily challenges of CM for long-living complex systems are investigated. Software support for CM is discussed on the basis of PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) solutions. The paper highlights points that need attention for CM implementation (CM data and process management) by means of PLM. The paper summarizes requirements for CM based on PDM/PLM solutions, which are relevant for PLM solution vendors and for engineering companies and manufacturers moving towards PSS and MRO. The paper is written form an engineering perspective.