The government program manager (PM) needs to be concerned with manufacturing management early in the process of defense system acquisition. The design's stability and producibility, the development and demonstration of manufacturing processes, the tooling to be developed, and production testing and demonstration identified during preliminary design should be evaluated to determine the overall manufacturing risk, as well as cost and schedule impacts. Manufacturing risk is one of the important factors in making the decision to proceed within all phases of development and production. The following manufacturing considerations should be made during the appropriate acquisition phases:
Table 1-1 Manufacturing Considerations by Phase
No later than the critical design review (CDR), a producibility analysis should be made to aid in the identification of risks, the development of preliminary cost and schedule estimates, and the identification of issues that must be resolved prior to the Milestone C decision. Preparation for Production Readiness Reviews should begin in the Engineering and Manufacturing Development phase. The Program Management Office (PMO) should establish and provide criteria to the contractor as early as possible. A successful Milestone C requires a plan for transitioning from development to production. The Milestone C decision requires verification of the product producibility and production schedule capabilities.
The PM should work closely with the contractor counterpart to ensure that all manufacturing objectives will be met. The PM should insist on aggressive producibility actions, comprehensive production planning and scheduling, and efficient manufacturing methods. Sufficient funds should be budgeted for use during all phases to accomplish these tasks. Producibility engineering and planning (PEP) and initial production facilities (IPF) definition efforts should start during product design to avoid incurring significant cost and delays in starting the manufacturing effort. Formal manufacturing maturity assessments should be conducted to support on-going risk assessments and trade studies.
The PM, through the manufacturing team in the PMO, should monitor progress against the manufacturing plan. The PMO team should have a good technical understanding of the product so that technical problems can be resolved and design modifications can be evaluated effectively. The PM, of course, must be aware of each contract and engineering change during the program, and the impact of that change on the overall program.
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