WILEY SERIES IN SYSTEMS ENGINEERING AND MANAGEMENT

Andrew P. Sage, Editor

ANDREW P. SAGE and JAMES D. PALMER

Software Systems Engineering

WILLIAM B. ROUSE

Design for Success: A Human-Centered Approach to Designing Successful Products and Systems

LEONARD ADELMAN

Evaluating Decision Support and Expert System Technology

ANDREW P. SAGE

Decision Support Systems Engineering

YEFIM FASSER and DONALD BRETTNER

Process Improvement in the Electronics Industry, Second Edition

WILLIAM B. ROUSE

Strategies of Innovation

ANDREW P. SAGE

Systems Engineering

HORST TEMPELMEIER and HEINRICH KUHN

Flexible Manufacturing Systems: Decision Support for Design and Operation

WILLIAM B. ROUSE

Catalysts for Change: Concepts and Principles for Enabling Innovation

LIPING FANG, KEITH W. HIPEL, and D. MARC KILGOUR

Interactive Decision Making: The Graph Model for Conflict Resolution

DAVID A SCHUM

Evidential Foundations of Probabilistic Reasoning

JENS RASMUSSEN, ANNELISE MARK PEJTERSEN, and LEONARD P. GOODSTEIN

Cognitive Systems Engineering

ANDREW P. SAGE

Systems Management for Information Technology and Software Engineering

ALPHONSE CHAPANIS

Human Factors in Systems Engineering

YACOV Y. HAIMES

Risk Modeling, Assessment, and Management, Second Edition

DENNIS M. BUEDE

The Engineering Design of Systems: Models and Methods

ANDREW P. SAGE and JAMES E. ARMSTRONG, JR.

Introduction to Systems Engineering

WILLIAM B. ROUSE

Essential Challenges of Strategic Management

YEFIM FASSER and DONALD BRETTNER

Management for Quality in High-Technology Enterprises

THOMAS B. SHERIDAN

Humans and Automation: System Design and Research Issues

ALEXANDER KOSSIAKOFF and WILLIAM N. SWEET

Systems Engineering Principles and Practice

HAROLD R. BOOHER

Handbook of Human Systems Integration

JEFFREY T. POLLOCK and RALPH HODGSON

Adaptive Information: Improving Business through Semantic Interoperability, Grid Computing, and Enterprise Integration

ALAN L. PORTER and SCOTT W. CUNNINGHAM

Tech Mining: Exploiting New Technologies for Competitive Advantage

REX BROWN

Rational Choice and Judgment: Decision Analysis for the Decider

WILLIAM B. ROUSE and KENNETH R. BOFF (editors)

Organizational Simulation

HOWARD EISNER

Managing Complex Systems: Thinking Outside the Box

STEVE BELL

Lean Enterprise Systems: Using IT for Continuous Improvement

J. JERRY KAUFMAN and ROY WOODHEAD

Stimulating Innovation in Products and Services: With Function Analysis and Mapping.

WILLIAM B. ROUSE

Enterprise Transformation: Understanding and Enabling Fundamental Change

JOHN E. GIBSON, WILLIAM T. SCHERER, and WILLIAM F. GIBSON

How to Do Systems Analysis

WILLIAM F. CHRISTOPHER

Holistic Management: Managing What Matters for Company Success

WILLIAM B. ROUSE

People and Organizations: Explorations of Human-Centered Design

GREGORY S. PARNELL, PATRICK J. DRISCOLL, and DALE L. HENDERSON

Decision Making in Systems Engineering and Management

BENJAMIN S. BLANCHARD

System Engineering Management, Fourth Edition

Copyright © 2008 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey Published simultaneously in Canada

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600, or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at www.wiley.com/go/permissions.

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.

For general information about our other products and services, please contact our Customer Care Department within the United States at (800) 762-2974, outside the United States at (317) 572-3993 or fax (317) 572-4002.

Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books. For more information about Wiley products, visit our web site at www.wiley.com.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Blanchard, Benjamin S.

System engineering management / Benjamin S. Blanchard. – 4th ed.

p. cm. – (Wiley series in systems engineering and management)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-470-16735-9 (cloth : alk. paper)

1. Systems engineering. I. Title.

TA168.B53 2008

620.001’171–xdc22

2008019000

FOREWORD

The first three editions of Ben Blanchard’s System Engineering Management text are exceptionally fine works and reflect very well the continued evolutionary and emerging developments in the important subject of system engineering and closely related management of system engineering programs and projects. It is hard to believe that the third edition could be made better. However, and much to the credit of the dedication of the author, the fourth edition of the work reflects well and improves upon the exemplary work reflected in the previous three editions through continued evolutionary enhancements.

The author is one of the most respected system engineering and management educators in the world today, and this work reflects his continuing dedication to the profession. The third edition of the book is not, in any sense, obsolete. It is quite useful and relevant. This fourth edition presents an increased emphasis on such subjects as system engineering processes, design, systems architecting, and organization of programs and projects for system engineering. This new edition is not revolutionary in any sense; it is indeed a significant evolutionary improvement over the present excellent third edition and is even more relevent to the world of system engineering management practice.

This text continues to be most useful as a senior, or very beginning graduate level, text in the management of system engineering programs and projects. It could well be used as a text for all engineering disciplines who definitely need, and who often do not get, some exposure in their curricula to the systems approach and systems-level thinking. The continued inclusion of more basic system engineering and analysis material not in the previous editions to the same extent makes the work even more useful for this latter group than the previous editions. The work appears especially useful as a single-source introduction to system engineering and engineering management for undergraduate engineers in all disciplines. It will also be useful as a text in system engineering programs, and could well be used as the basic text for a single semester course in engineering management taught at the senior or introductory graduate level.

System engineering management needs abound, as evidenced by the continual unrelenting pressure for enhanced productivity and responsiveness. There is increasing ABET pressure for inclusion of system engineering material in engineering curricula. Thus, the work fills several needs today. It is eminently suitable for use by system engineering majors in an introductory course in system engineering management, as well as for all engineering undergraduate students who wish a definitive presentation of the role of system engineering in enhancing productivity in the public and private sectors.

It is a special pleasure to note that this edition of the work has found a most appropriate home in the Wiley Series in Systems Engineering and Management.

Andrew P. Sage

PREFACE

Current trends indicate that, in general, the complexity of systems is increasing, and the challenges associated with bringing new systems into being are greater than ever! Requirements are constantly changing with the introduction of new technologies on a continuing and evolutionary basis; the life cycles of many systems are being extended while, at the same time, the life cycles of individual and specific technologies are becoming shorter; and systems are being viewed more in terms of interoperability requirements and within a system of systems (SOS) context. There is a greater degree of outsourcing and the utilization of suppliers throughout the world, and international competition is increasing in a global environment. Available resources are dwindling worldwide; and many of the systems (products) in use today are not meeting the needs of the customer/user in terms of performance, quality, and overall cost-effectiveness.

Given today’s environment, there is an ever-increasing need to develop and produce systems that are robust, reliable and of high quality, supportable, cost-effective from a total life-cycle perspective, and responsive to the needs of the customer/user in a satisfactory manner. Further, future systems must be designed with an open-architecture approach in mind in order to facilitate the incorporation of quick configuration changes and new technology insertions, and to be able to respond to system interoperability requirements on an expedited basis.

From past experience, the majority of the problems noted have been the direct result of not applying a total systems approach, from the beginning, in meeting the desired objectives. That is, the overall requirements for the system in question were not very well defined initially; a bottom-up (versus top-down) approach was followed in the system development process; the overall perspective pertaining to meeting the customer’s need was relatively short-term; and, in many instances, the philosophy has been to “design-it-now-and-fix-it-later.” In essence, the system design and development process has suffered somewhat from the lack of good early planning and the definition of requirements in a complete and methodical manner, and total life-cycle considerations have basically been addressed after the fact! This approach has turned out to be quite costly in the long term, particularly in assessing, the risks associated with the decision-making processes during the early stages of system development.

The combination of these and related factors has created a critical need—that is, the requirements for developing and producing (or constructing) well-integrated, high-quality, reliable, supportable, and cost-effective systems with complete customer (user) satisfaction in mind. In this highly competitive resource-constrained environment, it is now more important than ever to ensure that the principles and concepts of system engineering are properly implemented, both in the design and development of new systems and/or in the reengineering and modification of existing systems. System requirements must be well-defined from the beginning. The system must be viewed in terms of all of its components on a totally integrated basis—to include prime equipment, software, operating personnel, facilities, associated data and information, its associated production and distribution process, and the elements of maintenance and support (and not limited to just those elements utilized to accomplish a given mission scenario). A top-down (and bottom-up) integrated approach must be assumed, with the appropriate allocation of requirements from the system level and down to its various elements. The system must be addressed within a higher-level system of systems (SOS) context, as appropriate, and considering applicable interoperability requirements. Further, the system must be viewed in terms of its entire life cycle; that is, from conceptual through preliminary and detailed design, production and/or construction, system utilization, maintenance and support, and system retirement and material recycling and/or disposal. Decisions made in any one phase of the system life cycle will likely have a significant impact on the activities in the other phases. Thus, a total system’s life-cycle approach must be assumed.

These concepts are not necessarily new or novel. System engineering, in its current context, has been a subject of interest since the late 1950s and early 1960s (and perhaps even earlier). The principles have been successfully applied in a few programs. However, in most instances, although we may believe that we utilize these methods successfully, we really do not implement them very well (if at all). The successful implementation of system engineering requires not only a technical thrust, but a management thrust as well. It is essential that one select the appropriate technologies, utilize the proper analytical tools, and apply the necessary resources to enhance the system engineering process. In addition, the proper organizational environment must be established to allow for the proper implementation of this process. Thus, it is necessary, first, to understand and believe in the process and, second, to establish the proper management and organizational structure that will allow it to happen! This approach, in turn, provides a cultural challenge for the future.

This text was developed with the preceding objectives in mind. The basic principles and concepts, the need for system engineering and its applications, and introduction to some key terms and definitions are covered in Chapter 1. This leads to a comprehensive presentation of the system engineering process in Chapter 2. This process commences with the identification of a consumer need and extends though the definition of system operational requirements and the maintenance and support concept; the identification and prioritization of technical performance measure (TPMs); a description of system architecture and the elements of the system in functional terms; the allocation of top system-level requirements to the various components of the system in form of input design-to criteria; system synthesis, analysis, and design optimization; test, evaluation, and validation; production and/or construction; distribution, installation, and system utilization in the user’s environment; system maintenance and sustaining life-cycle support; and system retirement and material recycling and/or disposal. Key areas of emphasis for system engineering are noted throughout. A thorough understanding of this process is fundamental in dealing with the overall subject area, and the material in Chapter 2 serves as a baseline for discussion in subsequent chapters.

Given the preceding overview, it is appropriate to delve further into some of the objectives of system engineering. One goal includes the integration of a wide variety of key design support disciplines into the total mainstream system design effort. Chapter 3 provides an introduction to some of these disciplines to include software engineering, reliability, and maintainability engineering, human factors and safety engineering, manufacturing and production, logistics and supportability, disposability, quality, environmental and value/cost engineering. Chapter 4 follows with a discussion pertaining to the application of design methods and tools, utilized in such a manner as to enhance the fulfillment of system engineering objectives. The appropriate application of electronic commerce (EC), information technology (IT), electronic data interchange (EDI), and computer-aided design (CAD) methods allows for “front-end” analysis, leading to a better system definition at an earlier stage in the life cycle. Chapter 5 discusses the checks and balances in the design process, provided through the accomplishment of formal design review, evaluation, feedback and control, and the initiation of changes for corrective action as necessary. An objective of system engineering is to provide a strong engineering leadership role relative to the initial definition of system requirements, the necessary integration of design activities to ensure effective and efficient results, and the follow-on measurement and evaluation functions to ensure that the initially specified requirements have been met.

The next step addresses the management issues pertaining to the application of system engineering requirements to different projects. Chapter 6 leads off with an in-depth discussion of planning and the development of the System Engineering Management Plan (SEMP). System engineering tasks, the development of a work breakdown structure (WBS), program task schedules, and the preparation of cost projections are included. Customer, producer (prime contractor), and supplier activities are covered. Of particular note is the identification, selection, and contracting with key suppliers. Chapter 7 addresses system engineering in a typical project organizational structure, highlighting the differences between functional, product-line, project, and matrix structures. The many interfaces between the customer (consumer), the producer (contractor), and suppliers are discussed, as well as the human resources requirements pertaining to the staffing and management of a system engineering department/group. Having covered the planning, organization, and implementation of a system engineering program, it is essential that one consider a formal evaluation to properly measure and assess the degree to which the organization is performing in accomplishing its overall objectives. Chapter 8 introduces organizational benchmarking and the application of several different models for the purposes of evaluation and feedback (e.g., the SECM and the CMMI models). Dealing with the issues of planning and organization only, without the benefit of evaluation and feedback, constitutes only part of the process and tends to inhibit future growth.

The six appendixes provide excellent supplemental material in support of the various topices covered throughout the eight chapters in the text. Appendix A includes case-study illustrations of the functional analysis; Appendix B describes in detail the steps involved in performing a life-cycle cost analysis (LCCA); Appendix C includes seven different case-study examples of various types of design analysis; Appendix D includes an extensive design-review checklist; Appendix E contains a supplier evaluation checklist; and Appendix F constitutes an extensive bibliography.

In summary, the intent herein is to describe system engineering in terms of its objectives and applications and the steps in the system engineering process, and to provide a management perspective for the implementation of programs with a strong system engineering thrust. It is believed that this text can be effectively utilized in the academic classroom (both at the undergraduate and graduate levels), in support of a continuing education seminar or workshop, and as an on-the-job reference guide. Questions and problem exercises are included at the end of each chapter to provide the necessary emphasis where required, and an instructor’s guide is available for academic classroom support.

Finally, I wish to express my thanks and appreciation to Dr. Andrew P. Sage, editor, Wiley Series in Systems Engineering and Management, for his support relative to including this text within the series, for preparation of the Foreword, and for his continuing friendship through the years.

Benjamin S. Blanchard

Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION TO SYSTEM ENGINEERING

This text deals with system engineering, or the orderly process of bringing a system into being and the subsequent effective and efficient operation and support of that system throughout its projected life cycle. It constitutes an interdisciplinary approach and means for enabling the realization and follow-on deployment of a successful system.

A system comprises a complex combination of resources (in the form of human beings, materials, equipment, software, facilities, data, information, services, etc.), integrated in such a manner as to fulfill a designated need. A system is developed to accomplish a specific function, or a series of functions, with the objective of responding to some identified need. The various elements of a system must be directly tied to and supportive of the accomplishment of some given mission scenario, or series of scenarios.

A system may be classified as a natural system, human-made system, physical system, conceptual system, closed-loop system, open-loop system, static system, dynamic system, and so on. This text addresses primarily human-made systems that are physical, dynamic, and open-loop in structure. Further, the objective is to address the system in the context of its whole versus dealing with its components only. Of significant importance is the realization that ultimate system performance is dependent not only on the complete and timely integration of its various components, but on establishing the proper interrelationships among these components. By accomplishing such through the application of system engineering principles and concepts, a value-added component can be realized.

A system may vary in form, fit, and/or function. One may be dealing with a group of aircraft accomplishing a mission at a specific geographical location, a communication network for the processing of information on a worldwide basis, a power distribution capability involving waterways and electrical power-generating units, a healthcare capability including a group of hospitals and mobile units serving a given community, a manufacturing facility that produces x products in a designated time frame, or a small vehicle providing the transportation of certain cargo from one location to another. A system may also be contained within some overall hierarchy such as an aircraft within an airline system, which is within a larger regional transportation system, which is within a worldwide transportation capability, and so on. In this context, we may be dealing with system of systems (SOS), a popular term currently being applied in describing highly complex systems within some higher-level structure. The objective is to be able to adequately define and describe the overall boundaries of the particular system being addressed, and its interfaces (and interrelationships) across the board.

The objectives of this chapter are: to address the subject of systems in general; to define some key terms and the characteristics of systems; to identify the need for and the basic requirements for bringing systems into being and for later evaluating systems in terms of their effectiveness in a user’s environment; and to provide an introduction to system engineering and the associated management activities inherent in the system engineering process.

1.1 DEFINITION OF A SYSTEM

In order to ensure a good and common understanding of the material throughout this text, it seems appropriate to commence with a few definitions. As a start, one should first establish a basic definition for a system. Although this may appear to be overly simplistic, experience has indicated that people throughout the world tend to utilize the term rather loosely to describe many different situations and configurations. Further, there is a lack of consistency in the application of system engineering principles and concepts. Thus, it is important to first review a few terms to establish somewhat of a baseline for further discussion.

1.1.1 The Characteristics of a System

The term system stems from the Greek systImagesma, meaning an “organized whole.” Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines a system as “a regularly interacting or interdependent group of items forming a unified whole.”1 One of the early Military Standards on the subject, MIL-STD-499, defines a system as “a composite of equipment, skills, and techniques capable of performing and/or supporting an operational role. A complete system includes all equipment, related facilities, material, software, services, and personnel required for its operation and support to the degree that it can be considered a self-sufficient unit in its intended environment.”2

A more recent document, EIA/IS-632, defines a system as “an integrated composite of people, products, and processes that provide a capability to satisfy a stated need or objective.”3

Given the variations in the basic definition of a “system,” the leadership of INCOSE (International Council on Systems Engineering) assigned the current Fellows of the Council to develop a consensus definition. After a few iterations the following definition evolved:

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!

Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!