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What Is An Engineering Change Order

An engineering change order (ECO) is a document that outlines a proposed change to a product or component, lists the affected parts, and requests approval. The engineering change process starts with identifying an issue and ends with implementing the agreed change. ECOs are created after initial review to finalize details and obtain final sign-off. They provide a standardized way to document, review, and track changes to maintain accurate product information and history.

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126 views

What Is An Engineering Change Order

An engineering change order (ECO) is a document that outlines a proposed change to a product or component, lists the affected parts, and requests approval. The engineering change process starts with identifying an issue and ends with implementing the agreed change. ECOs are created after initial review to finalize details and obtain final sign-off. They provide a standardized way to document, review, and track changes to maintain accurate product information and history.

Uploaded by

Kundan Kumar Mishra
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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What is an engineering change order?

An engineering change order (ECO) is a documentation packet that outlines the proposed
change, lists the product or part(s) that would be affected and requests review and approval from
the individuals who would be impacted or charged with implementing the change. ECOs are
used to make modifications to components, assemblies, associated documentation and other
types of product information.
Where does an ECO fit in the engineering change management process?
The change process starts when someone identifies an issue that may need to be addressed with a
change to the product. It ends when the agreed-upon change is implemented. ECOs are used in
between to summarize the modifications, finalize the details and obtain all necessary approvals.

The stages of the engineering change process are:

1. Issue identification & scoping:


Someone identifies a problem or issue and determines that it may require a change. The scope of
the issue and its possible impact are estimated.
2. ECR creation:
An engineering change request (ECR) is created to examine the necessity and feasibility of the
change, to identify parts, components and documentation that might be affected, to estimate costs
and to list the resources required to implement the change.
3. ECR review:
The ECR is circulated for review and discussion among key stakeholders and is modified as
needed.
4. ECO creation:
Once the ECR is approved, an engineering change order (ECO) is generated, which lists the
items, assemblies and documentation being changed and includes any updated drawings, CAD
files, standard operating procedures (SOPs) or manufacturing work instructions (MWIs) required
to make a decision about the change.
5. ECO review:
The ECO is then circulated to a change review board made up of all stakeholders (including
external partners when appropriate) who need to approve the change.
6. ECN circulation:
Once the ECO has been approved, an engineering change notification/notice (ECN) is sent to
affected individuals to let them know that the ECO has been approved and the change should
now be implemented.
7. Change implementation:
Those responsible for implementation use the information in the ECO and ECN to make the
requested change.
While an engineering change order is used for changes that are executed by engineering, other
types of change orders may be used by other departments. These include the:
 Manufacturing change order (MCO) —
A change order describing modifications to the manufacturing process or equipment.
 Document change order (DCO) —
A change order detailing modifications to documents, specifications or SOPs.
ECO benefits
While you may groan at the prospect of pulling together another set of documentation, an ECO
is a critical part of keeping product development on track and making sure product information is
accurate. A good ECO contains the full description, analysis, cost and impact of a change, and a
good ECO process ensures that all stakeholders have bought in to the change. Having an
organized method of handling product changes reduces potential design, manufacturing and
inventory errors, minimizes development delays and makes it easy to get input from different
departments, key suppliers and contract manufacturers.
Following good ECO practices also makes it easy to document a full history of what changes
have been made to a product and when they occurred. In industries with regulatory requirements,
like the medical device industry, having a full history of every change to a product is mandatory.
(Depending on the industry, change orders and even the change process itself may be audited by
a regulatory body.) Keeping a record of product changes will also help you debug any problems
that occur after your product launches. The task of identifying and fixing the root cause of any
problem is easier when you have a complete product change history.
Without a clear ECO process in place, making a change to a product can set off a chain of costly,
time-consuming and avoidable events. Take a part switch that happens late in the development
process. Engineering may tell manufacturing to be aware of the new part, but if that information
is never conveyed to the purchasing department, the old part will be ordered. When the
components arrive, manufacturing will not be able to assemble the product, and its launch will be
delayed until the new part is obtained (most likely with some rush charges incurred along the
way).
Engineering change orders make it possible to accurately identify, address and implement
product changes while keeping all key stakeholders in the loop and maintaining a historical
record of your product. Without them, miscommunications occur that lead to delays, incorrect
purchase orders and improper product builds.

Engineering Change Orders: Paper-based vs. electronic software systems

  Managing ECOs With Managing ECOs With Electronic


Paper/Manila Folders Systems

Cycle Time ECO is generally reviewed  ECO can be reviewed by many


one person at a time people at once
 If multiple copies are  All edits are made to a single
distributed, edits must be version, so no consolidation is needed
consolidated and reviewed again  ECO is always available online
 Paper ECO can be misplaced ECO review is significantly
 ECO review can be a long shorter process (days)
process (weeks)

Signature  Early approvers won’t be  All approvers sign off on the


Process aware of edits, necessitating same set of documentation
additional rounds of review  Electronic signature is 21 CFR
 Official approval disappears part 11 compliant, a requirement for
if the ECO file is lost the medical device industry
 Harder to maintain clean,  Automatic maintenance of
complete history of changes clean history for audits

Issue  Individuals need to be  People’s comments can be


Resolution tracked down to resolve problems viewed, so hold-ups can be quickly
 May need to wait for change resolved
control review board meeting to  Can easily see who hasn’t
connect with other approvers signed and request approval
electronically

Package  Large paper file of  Electronic documentation is


Format documents and drawings must be environmentally friendly
printed  Easy to create and access ECO
 Tedious and labor-intensive when managed in the same system as
to pull together information from underlying product information
many locations

Conclusion
Companies need to be able to adapt quickly in today’s constantly changing environment, and
often that means making changes to their products. Engineers make modifications during
development and production with the intent of adding functionality, improving manufacturing
performance or addressing the availability of a particular part.
To make sure proposed changes are appropriately reviewed, a solid process is critical—
especially if members of your product team are scattered across multiple locations (for instance,
design engineers in Boston, the manufacturing team in St. Louis and component manufacturers
all over the world). At the heart of a solid change process is the engineering change order.

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