Implementation of ECM process for a serial yacht building factory

Today's competitive market forces the companies to improve their processes and products continuously. Bringing new products to the market with less cost and minor times have become the key points of the success. In order to keep compatible, the companies are investing in improving their design, engineering, purchasing, production processes as well as their communication methods. Improving technology is providing a wide range of solutions to the companies objectives. One of these solutions is the ECM (Engineering Change Managament), enabling the companies to manage the changes on their products/documents in an effective way and analyze the results for further evolution of the company and the products. Yacht building market is also taking the advantage of ECM usage in different levels due to complexity of the products and the production numbers. In design, engineering and production, changes are unavodiable. Cost minimization studies, quality improvement activities, functional and aesthetical needs, continuous improvement issues, legislative regulations, facilitating logistics, occupational health and safety regulations and requests of customers and marketing department are the main reasons of the changes. ECM is used in order to handle the changes in an organized way as it provides a traceable archive for the changes, cost reduction and effective communication. There are several ways of executing ECM such as paper forms, software applications, e-mailing lists. The technology presents different solutions to companies however, the newest and the most expensive solution may not be the best solution for each company as ECM is unique for companies. On the other hand, having the process in paper forms or e-mailing lists are not reliable since they are not easily traceable and depend on workers. In this thesis, engineering change management is defined, the phases of the process, its positive and negative effects are given. Construction of a general ECM structure is described in detail. Results of the literature research are analyzed.Recommendations for using the process outputs in order to improve the processare given. Finally, a case study is carried out in a Turkish serial yacht building factory. The phases of ECM implementation and integration to the ERP module is described in detail. The process and the outputs are analyzed, the recommendations for further improvement are stated. In chapter one, the background of the thesis is given and the aim of the thesis is described. The ECM process in serial yacht building is briefly given. The literature survey is given in second chapter. Using the qualitative exploratory research methodology, articles, thesis, user manuals and books are investigated thoroughly and meetings are carried out with the application consultants. According to literature survey, the general development phase of the ECM is completed and the sub-phases and interactions with other processes are being investigated especially after the year 2010. Articles about company applications showed that as the products become more complex, the need for simpler software solutions are arising. In third chapter, the ECM and EC are introduced, the reasons for requesting a change are given and the ECM phases are explained. The reasons are mostly the marketing needs, new regulations, cost reduction, logistics, quality issues, aesthetics, weight reduction, occupational health and safety issues, functionality and continuous improvement activities.The ECM has three basic parts; change notice, change approval and notification. Change notice is the request for a changein a part of a product or a document. Change approval is the phase including all the drawing revisions, sample trials, cost calculations. The final phase is the announcement of the change with related documents. Chapter four is about the advantages and disadvantages of ECM. The advantages are given in four parts, archive, logistics, cost and communication. The archive of the changes provide eligible data for reports such as change per model/year and the percentage of change reasons, which are used for performance evaluations. ECM helps to prevent unused stock and have the new/changed parts on time in production line. ECM also enables to decreases the costs of the change process. In addition, ECM provides effective communication between the responsibles. On the other hand, ECM is an additional cost and it has adverse psychological effects on workers since a change means rework on the issue. In chapter five, the construction of the ECM process is described in detail. First, it is necessary to prepare a work flow diagram, where all the responsible departments and their relations, the necessary documents and the approvals are schematically given.Then, the forms, the procedures, the tracking listsfor the process are written. After, a procedure explaining the whole process and the responsibles is written in detail. Finally, the process is announced in the company and a start date is set. For improving the process and regarding the possible organizational changes in the company, periodical reports about the changes are enabled. Chapter six includes the results of a research in yacht building sector and a case study in a yacht building company. To find out the general usage of ECM in yacht building in Europe and in Turkey, a questionnaire was prepared and sent to the firms in different countries. The questionnaire had four questions; are you using a dedicated procedure for engineering change management, if yes is it written or on software, if software which one and is there a dedicated department for managing changes. Even though the feedback percentage is low, the results showed that, the usage of ECM is increasing; most of the companies are in stage of integrating their process via a software. In second part of the chapter, an ECM process for a serial yacht builder in Turkey is created and the process is implemented to the ERP program module. The company is established in 2006 and produced 119 motor yachts of a famous brand, lengths between 39-55 feet from 2008 to 2011. In year 2010, the company created its own sailing yacht brand and continuedannouncing new models. The annual production capacity of the company is 70 boats. The firm has its own workshops for stainless steel, furniture, upholstery, teak and GRP production and a test pool where the basic regulatory tests are carried out. For the hull and deck concept, scantlings and the interior design, the companycollaborates with famous naval architects and designers. The detailed design and workshop drawings are prepared within the company. The company sells and provides after-sales service for the yachts worldwide and has 300 suppliers within Turkey and other countries.The need for managing the changes emerged with the increasing number of models and production capacity. In year 2010, creating a process for change management was planned. To begin, a work flow diagram was prepared. The diagram showed all the responsible departments, the steps and the approval stages needed. The diagram also showed the necessary implementation of the other processes of the companyto the ECM process; sample ordering and work order requests. Then, the relevant documents, the change request form and the sample trial formare prepared. Next, the procedure presenting the workflow and the responsible departmentswas prepared. For the following two years, monthly reports were prepared about the change numbers per model, the time spent on changes by departments, the reasons of the changes and the cost effects of the changes. The reports gave tangible data about the performance of the process, products and the workers. In 2013, the implementation of the existing process to the ECM module of the ERP system started. The implementation was carried out in collaboration with the methods, purchasing and engineering department responsibles and the application management specialistfrom the holding. The process was implemented as "ECO-Prototype" excluding the"sample trial" and "cost approval" phases since it was recommended to start with a shorter process. The implementation was completed in 2014 and the company started using the process with their new sailing yacht model. Using ECM-Prototype for one year, revealed improvable areas and gave hints for ECO-serial production. First of all, a control mechanism for detecting the existence of a similar change is missing. Also, determining the degree of urgency of the request in serial production is to be worked on. Another issue is that the attachments can only be reached on a different computer screen, which is time consuming. Finally, the other related processes such as "sample production work order creation" and "sample purchasing order" may be included in the ECM. In final chapter, overall study is summarized and the outputs are reviewed. The detailed case study showed possible problems and improvable areas for an ECM process in yacht building companies. The lack of literature in ECM applications in the yacht buildingprevented generalizing the results however, the real case study pointed out beneficial remarks.The new technologies provideeasier and more efficient ways for utilizing the ECM process. Detecting the 3D image of the requested changeon screen, decision making assistance with data-mining tools and adapting the new softwares to the yacht building could be the further research topics.