4.3.2 Engineering and Implementing RMS Engineering's DTC Metric

Architecting a product requires a defined set of requirements for the finished product; e.g. size, weight, volume, range, power, color, cost, payload, etc. One very necessary requirement is the anticipated product production cost. Failure to set the production cost requirements at design kick-off allows for unexpected and unacceptable production costs. Previously, all too often, programs were allowing establishment of the production cost goal to slip, or they would wait for their customer to establish it for them. Raytheon Missile Systems' (RMS) Engineering Directorate has specified that all development programs will now establish a production cost goal using the Design-To-Cost (DTC) metric described within this paper and will monitor their design progress towards meeting this goal. Each program's DTC metric is now collected monthly and reviewed by senior management. This paper discusses creation of the RMS DTC metric, the metric's details and its implementation across RMS.