An engineer submits a change request with part numbers, the new drawing revision and the reason. It routes to engineering, quality and purchasing in turn, and on final approval the ERP BOM is updated, old drawings are pulled and planners see affected work orders.
Typical results
≈3 days
Typical time from request to release
3 sign-offs
Engineering, quality and purchasing in turn
≈3 hrs/wk
Engineer time back from chasing approvals
Figures reflect typical results for this kind of automation.
The challenge
Engineering change requests circulate by email and paper forms, and each approver has to dig up open work orders, stock and supplier POs on their own. Approvals take about two weeks, and released changes sometimes miss the floor, so boards get built to a superseded revision and need rework.
Before and after
Working days from change request to release
−70%Builds to a superseded revision per year
−92%Engineer hours per week chasing approvals
−75%The automation
An engineer submits an engineering change request with the affected part numbers, the new drawing revision and the reason for the change. The request routes for sign-off to engineering, quality and purchasing in turn, and each approver sees the open work orders, stock and supplier POs the change affects. On final approval the BOM revision is updated in the ERP, superseded drawings are pulled from the shop tablets and planners get a list of work orders to rebuild or rework.
How it works
- 01
Change request submitted
An engineer submits the change with the affected part numbers, the new drawing revision and the reason for the change.
- 02
Impact shown to approvers
Each approver sees the open work orders, stock on hand and supplier POs that use the affected parts.
- 03
Engineering, quality, purchasing
The request routes to each function in turn. A rejection returns it to the engineer with comments, and a stalled step gets a reminder after 2 days.
- 04
BOM revision updated
On final approval the BOM revision is updated in the ERP with the effective date and the approval record.
- 05
Floor and planners updated
Superseded drawings are pulled from the shop tablets, and planners get a list of work orders to rebuild or rework.
Starts from
- Engineering change request
- New drawing revision
Delivers
- BOM revision in the ERP
- Old drawings off tablets
- Work orders to rework
The impact
Change approvals take about 3 working days instead of 10, roughly 70% faster. Builds to a superseded revision drop from about one a month to about one a year, and every change carries a dated approval trail with the affected orders that quality can show an auditor in minutes.
Questions about this automation
How are urgent changes handled?
An engineer can mark a change as urgent, for example for a safety or supply issue. Urgent requests notify all approvers at once instead of in turn, and the release still waits for all three sign-offs, so the approval record stays complete for audits.
Does it keep a record for customer and ISO audits?
Yes. Every request keeps the reason, the drawing revisions before and after, who approved each stage and when, and the work orders affected. Quality can export the full change history of a part number as a PDF for a customer audit or an ISO surveillance visit.
Which systems does a released change update?
The ERP for BOMs, work orders, stock and purchase orders, the document store that holds drawings, and the tablets or screens on the shop floor. This is a multi-step build, usually rolled out in stages, starting with the request and approval flow before the ERP update.