Measuring engineering quality in airplane development

Abstract

This project was motivated by the desire to apply quality metrics to the multiple stages of the airplane development process at Boeing Commercial Airplanes. This project first identified integration and process discipline as most critical towards final quality of the engineering work. Integration, defined as the path and connectivity between teams and activities, was studied by analyzing performance of a small engineering support team. To understand the effects of early stage quality on later stages, i.e. process discipline, a system dynamics model was developed focusing on the design and development of components with suppliers. The case study regarding integration focused on the engineering work as a four-steps process: Inputs, Engineering Activities, Output and Customer Review. All unplanned reworked deliverables of a 5-7 members engineering team were analyzed. The study tracked the process step at which the error was first caused. The results found that 21% of unplanned engineering rework was caused due to inadequate delivery of inputs to the requested engineering work. Furthermore, the 21% of unplanned engineering rework had the highest hours per reworked deliverable of any stages. Over all, 75% of engineering rework was due mainly to the process rather than the actual technical engineering work. The system dynamic modeling achieved two main results: showcased the necessity to simplify the process, and the importance of accounting for iterations in engineering. Through the group-modeling discussions with the process owner, it was evident the need to provide clear checkpoints and reviews of the engineering work. Furthermore, discovering engineering rework within a given stage has the same effect as delivering first-pass engineering quality. This project provided a methodology to work with engineering teams to measure their quality performance. Furthermore, it has the potential to show the thresholds of quality from one stage to another in Airplane Development.