PRODUCIBILITY AND CONFIDENCE INDICES DURING DEFENSE ACQUISITION

Given the complex nature of systems today, systems engineering’s primary focus is typically consumed with optimizing function and performance. This condition often causes producibility and cost to become an after-thought, leading to late, over budget production. Therefore an objective and relevant method is required to provide real-time feedback to system engineers relative to producibility and confidence that facilitates better systems design and programmatic decisions.

This paper will discuss the use of producibility model metrics to score several key design elements for the creation of a single standardized producibility index (PI) to encourage engineers to improve their designs for producibility earlier in the development life-cycle. Additionally monitoring certain analysis activities to gauge the level of accuracy in the producibility model will provide metrics to create a single standardized producibility confidence index (PCI) that can be used to mitigate risk in programmatic decision making. Lastly, the On-Board Vehicle Power (OBVP) system will be used to demonstrate the PI and PCI.