Manufacturing systems engineering and management

This paper presents a discussion of manufacturing systems engineering and manufacturing systems management as one of the major efforts that concern systems engineers. There are many ways in which we can describe systems engineering and within this manufacturing systems engineering and management. This paper takes a multifaceted view of systems engineering. It attempts to describe systems engineering in terms of a relatively large number of trilogies. The process view of systems engineering is expanded on in some detail. We identify three major life cycle processes for systems engineering: research, development, test and evaluation; acquisition and manufacturing; and planning and marketing. We present a brief discussion of systems engineering from the perspective of each of these life cycles and then illustrate how acquisition and manufacturing forms a vital part of systems engineering efforts. We conclude with a discussion of the necessary role of manufacturing and acquisition as it applies to the systems engineering and management of contemporary systems including some 21/sup st/ century projections.