ABSTRACT
The design of big or complex systems requires the cooperation of many people and usually many companies. In most big companies, such design projects are coordinated by the Systems Engineering Department. Systems engineering is a superset of concurrent engineering. This chapter discusses systems engineering, and examines specific attributes associated with concurrent engineering. Total quality management is an important new term in American industry. Systems engineering is a subset of total quality management. It is usually one of the first courses taken by engineering students. This is not as easy as it sounds, because systems engineering means different things to different people. An important concept that can be gleaned from the definitions in this chapter is that systems engineering is responsible for the "big picture." Systems engineers must coordinate full-scale engineering, manufacturing, and component acquisition. Finally, they are responsible for writing proposals and specifications during the design and replacement phase of the system life cycle.
