ABSTRACT
The sheer scale of large engineering projects is impressive in terms of the
number of people involved, the number of components designed and the time-scale
of the project. For example, an aircraft has tens of thousands of components designed
and developed by teams of thousands of engineers at the main aircraft manufacturer
in conjunction with a large supply chain over a period of about five to ten years. Major
components such as the avionics, the undercarriage or the engine are sourced to main
first-tier suppliers. These major components themselves are highly complex products
with hundreds of components designed by a large team of people and long supply chains.
For example, designers have commented in discussions that the design effort going
