No matter the industry, every company is bound to encounter changes throughout a project’s lifecycle. That’s why Engineering Change Orders (ECOs) are essential to managing modifications.

As a business, it's crucial to understand ECOs and how they help streamline your processes and maintain the quality of your products.

An Engineering Change Order (ECO) is a standardized, formal document that outlines proposed alterations to a product or system's design, components, or processes. They ensure that changes are well-documented, adequately reviewed, and approved by stakeholders before implementation.

They play a vital role in maintaining the integrity of a product and minimizing errors or miscommunications during the change process.

So, whether you are in the manufacturing or medical device industry, you will need ECOs to improve processes.

Stay here to learn more about engineering change management processes!

An ECO, or Engineering Change Order, is a formal document to propose a change to a manufacturing process, functionality or product.

This form lists all affected parties – or affected individuals – and includes a clear description of the problem and modifications needed. ECOs also include charts, part effectiveness, and information necessary to understand the underlying situation.

ECO allows you to record all incidents and discover the root cause of a process's issues.

The ECO aims to solve problems that appear during a process. The engineering change process repairs and improves procedures to ensure the proper functionality.

These forms bring corrective measures when something seems odd during standard operating procedures. For example:

• Costs exceeding estimated budgets
• Rise in defective parts
• Increase in customer claims
• Appearance of more obsolete components
• Compliance violations
• Change supply chain partners

Either way, you must pass the ECO through approval to improve any existing process.

The time it takes to prepare an Engineering Change Order (ECO) varies depending on factors such as:

• The change complexity

• The resources available

• The documentation required

The preparation of an ECO consists of identifying the need for change and documenting the proposed changes. This is why it could take a few hours to a week or more.

The ECO helps key stakeholders consider ways to an efficient process with all the relevant information it gathers.

So, what are the benefits of using ECOs during a production process?

• Minimizes development delays and ensures that each task is done correctly.

• ECOs show you how your products evolve and what’s the critical component to increase quality and market.

• Finds flaws that could lead to serious issues.

• Avoids defects to boost customer satisfaction.

• Ensures early-stage production works appropriately.

• Includes stakeholders and informs them about the ECO process, key stages, and other regulatory requirements needed during changes.

Once relevant stakeholders see the importance of ECOs, the manufacturing method will run better and smoother.

Engineering Change Orders also have drawbacks you must consider before applying them to your manufacturing team.

• Engineering change notice documents require multiple people. If you center the responsibility on one person, the proposed change may only cover some issues.

• Misunderstanding the ECO’s true depth could lead to a ripple effect that could harm existing products or current manufacturing performance.

• Receiving approved configuration documentation takes a lot of time due to passing through multiple chains of command and reviews.

• It could be denied if not prepared with enough details and what the engineering changes will be.

Understanding the risks of ECOs will give component manufacturers and other companies a way to improve their processes.

Depending on the business situation, a few reasons could trigger an ECO:

Product Changes

Whenever the engineering team finds a way to improve product design details or new product development.

This includes:

• Developing new product designs
• Finding better or cheaper raw materials
• Getting new research to boost product performance
• Modifying products for customer requirements
• Discovering new key suppliers.

In this case, the entire engineering change order information is focused on the product and not other matters.

Regulation Changes

International and local laws are constantly changing. This is why a change management process considers these modifications closely so new regulations don’t affect the production stages.

Let’s say the regulatory body released a new law where the government bans a material you use for the manufacturing process. You’d have to create an ECO to modify a production stage and find a material substitute.

Documentary Changes

Document change orders come from structural modifications to documentary permits and other regulations.

These ECOs combine the previous models but focus more on business operations' “missing documents” aspect.

Following the example above, after making regulation changes, you realize your business lacks the proper documentary that mentions what regulatory bodies have released. That’s why you go through an ECO creation process.

It may seem that manufacturing change orders are way too much for a single person, but you can rely on other teammates from different departments to discuss issues.

There are four stages of the engineering change order process you must consider to prepare an ECO in your organization:

Problem Identification

The first step is to gather all the necessary information and identify the problem that requires changes.

You will also have to assess the change impact and bring other documents to see the technical feasibility and material availability for current issues.

Present the ECR to Stakeholders

Now, the person in charge – usually design engineers or similar – prepares an Engineering Change Request (ECR). The change process begins when you present the document to stakeholders with all the assessments made before, including:

• Estimated costs
• Resources required
• Requested change

Include a full description of each item.

ECR Review & Engineering Change Order Creation

After passing through the review and approval process, stakeholders develop an ECO with the change required and with modifications to the information you sent before.

The ECO lists all items and handling products and describes the common problems to be addressed. It also includes:

• CAD files
• Updated drawings
• Potential design activity
• Issue’s scope
• SOPs
• Material disposition codes
• Design error
• Inventory errors
• Manufacturing work instructions

And more data about the product change to implement.

Proposed Changes Implementation

Finally, an ECO review passes through a change control board. It involves contract manufacturers, internal and external partners.

After preparing a final consideration and reassuring the necessary changes, you send the ECO to the people responsible for implementation.

You must send an engineering change notice (ECN), so they know about changes and new practices.

The ECR is a prerequisite that jumpstarts the ECO.

They determine the possible implementing methods and provide viability to the solutions specialists could develop.

On the contrary, ECOs are the reviewed approvals that stakeholders agreed upon change. They will drive your product development on track after solving the detected issues.

When choosing the reason to build an ECO, you must consider its principles. Businesses encounter difficulties during their production processes and must adapt quickly to changes they can't control.

So, when implementing an ECO, you should consider the following principles:

Prepare a Central Repository

Prepare a repository where you can store and manage all digital products related to possible changes you may make to a product.

Use it to update all changes you make through your ECOs and erase all outdated data.

Keep a Clear Record of Your Progress And Release Management

Maintain a single source of information to help you understand how to work during the early stages of the project.

Allow stakeholders to have complete visibility and control when you deliver the updates. This will help them manage expenses and have a full history of all the changes.

Make the ECO Traceable

Traceability gives you control and a clear direction for delivery development.

This will help you move faster and manage changes with more accuracy. This works better if you have a team or managers to watch each stage of the process.

So, it doesn't matter where you make changes and their complexity. Traceability allows you to stay on the same page and avoid reworks while controlling spending.

ECOs is time-consuming. They require deep analysis and finding errors in multiple locations of your production process.

Hence, it’s logical you have to spend hours preparing a solid form that you can use as an ECO template.

We have gathered a few examples of ECO templates you can use and implement in your business:

Template #1

Engineering Change Order Template to showcase an itemized breakdown work – Download Link

Template #2

Simple HR ECO Template, to provide more details about current issues – Download Link

Template #3

Engineering change order Template, with change order time to show revised dates - Download Link

After getting one – or all – of the templates above, how can you read them?

You can use Microsoft Office 2021 suite to read, create, edit, and share your documents with all stakeholders so they can review them.

If you already have the software installed on your computer, you must get an original license to use the programs with all their features.

Get your Office 2021 Pro Plus Key BIND Retail Global for less than $20 and give your company the tool to create ECOs for each production process.

Engineering Change Orders (ECOs) play a role in maintaining the quality, efficiency, and consistency of your company's products and processes.

When incorporating a well-defined ECO system, you can effectively manage design and process changes, ensuring seamless communication and collaboration among team members.

As you continue to innovate and improve your products, ECOs will serve as a vital tool to help your company remain competitive and adapt to the ever-evolving engineering and manufacturing landscape.

Embrace the ECO’s power, and unlock the potential of streamlined change management for your business.