Chapter 11 – Fast Change

Publisher Summary All companies have some kind of a change form. Many have a documented process. The ISO requires a documented process and which should be followed. The ISO and other standards, however, do not care about the speed or efficiency of the process. The DOD and some other agencies seem to have found ways to slow the process. The change approval time for DOD is measured in months. Few companies (military or commercial) have a fast process. Yet, this is where the rubber meets the road. This is where much of the economy is in change processing. Process speed is the most significant strategy in the Configuration Management business. The longer the change throughput time, the bigger the “bone pile” in manufacturing and higher the cost of the change. Every day, every hour, every minute that manufacturing waits for a change, the more units that are likely to be produced which have to be reworked or scrapped.