Purpose

• To define which products to improve and under what circumstances.
• Also, to define which should not be improved.

Applicability

• Applies to all products released by this CM function.

Policy/Practice

• A list of all company products shall be made and each product will be identified as to whether or not it is to be improved.
• Certain products need to be improved to “meet the market.” They will be indentified as Class X.
• Certain products need to be improved only if the improvement is a real cost reduction exceeding $xxx per unit and/or pay back in yy months (see Costing Design Changes Standard). They will be identified as Class Y.
• Some products should not be improved as the profit margin is too thin or the market does not demand improvement. They will be identified as Class Z.

Procedure

• CM manager will keep the list and will ask the executive management to update it at least semiannually. CM will make the list product class available to only those engineers who need to know without reproducing the list and without publication of the list of any kind.
• Marketing VP, engineering VP and the general manager shall review the list semiannually or more often if desired.

Primary Responsibility

• The director of engineering services will be responsible for keeping this standard up to date.

Authorization