Product Lifecycle Engineering ( PLE ): An Application

Abstract Product Lifecycle Engineering (PLE) is the application of Systems Design and Analysis (SDA) to the Systems Engineering (SE) activities during the various phases along a system/product lifecycle. SE is an interdisciplinary approach and means for enabling the realization and deployment of successful systems. Systems engineers deal with whole systems having many separate contributing components/parts. They rely on other engineers to design, analyze, and deliver the individual components/parts which together make up the whole system. The SE effort spans the whole system lifecycle. SE focuses on defining customer needs and required functionality early in the development cycle, documenting requirements, and then proceeding with design synthesis and system validation while considering the complete problem from cradle to grave. This chapter will address PLE during the critical transition from product development to production where necessary Integrated Design and Manufacturing (IDM) tradeoffs are made. The redesign of the wing of an F‐86 Strato Sabre Vintage Jet Fighter, as a case study example for IDM through Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), will be presented. A Georgia Tech Professional Education Certificate Program with a large aerospace company during 2008–2009 served as the basis for this case study example.