A method to predict impact of engineering change based on change features

Engineering change impact assessment (ECIA) was a problem commonly faced by engineering change management (ECM) research scholars and enterprises. In order to solve the problem, this paper presented a change feature-based method to predict the impact of engineering change (EC). First, for the situation that an EC category belonged to the products or parts alteration in shape, the concept of change feature was proposed. An engineering change feature data model (ECFDM) and a change cost model were constructed. Next, the relationship between change features and the impact of EC were analyzed, and the problems of change impact prediction were described. Then, the change feature-based method to predict the impact of the proposed engineering change effect was detailed with the corresponding prediction formula. Finally, the feasibility of the method was verified by an application case.