Verification and validation: a novel product lifecycle management-based approach

Purpose: Although Verification and Validation (V&V) are two prevalent processes for the industry, there is still vagueness regarding their implementation. These processes are linked with appraisal costs and can occupy up to 70% of the total design time. This work sets out to provide clarity on the current use of V&V practices across the products lifecycle and propose a novel product lifecycle management-based V&V approach. Design/methodology/approach: A Systematic Literature Review in the fields of V&V was conducted. From the analysis of the literature, the stages, methods and techniques applied for V&V were studied from the Product Lifecycle Management perspective, leading to 70 distinct V&V methods or techniques that were classified into 20 clusters. The analysis of the clusters provided insights on how V&V can be applied across the product lifecycle. Findings: The analysis revealed that V&V are not currently addressed as lifecycle processes and that they are largely absent from the post-production phases. Further, this work proposes a novel approach for V&V from the product lifecycle perspective by identifying five additional key pillars to support its implementation. Originality/value: This paper is the first to map the as is V&V practices across the products lifecycle and provide insight to the engineers and academics on how those processes are currently applied per PLM stage. Moreover, it proposes a Product Lifecycle Management-based approach for V&V to guide how V&V processes can be applied beyond the internal organisational boundaries. Paper Type: Literature Review