Integrated System Engineering Process Improvement Framework for Rotorcraft

System Engineering process improvements in a multi-compliant framework are sometimes ineffective due to conflicting requirements enforced by different standards, process architectures, terminology and context. This paper will discuss how an integrated process improvement framework was applied to improve the System Engineering Organizational Standard Process to satisfy product quality, and customer needs while supporting the business and management goals of Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation. Process improvement methodologies that are model-independent are often viewed with skepticism regarding their applicability in a product design environments. Although it is true that most model-independent process improvements were first developed and applied on manufacturing environments, applying such methods in the engineering design environments has been proven to be beneficial. Key benefit of the integrated process improvement framework is a common set of indicators across multiple projects resulting in consistent findings that are used to improve the system engineering process at both the project and the organizational levels.