History of Systems Engineering
Mr. Tom Weisgerber, Vice President of Engineering for Kevin Kennedy Associates, recently published an article describing systems engineering, its applications, and the major steps of the systems engineering process. An understanding of systems engineering is complimented by knowledge and appreciation of its genesis. In this article I will overview the history of the systems engineering discipline and describe how it has evolved since its inception.
First, a restatement of Mr. Weisgerber’s definition of systems engineering:
“Systems engineering is a formal process for the development of a complex system driven by a set of established requirements. Common areas of application include:
- Computer systems engineering
- Control systems engineering
- Electrical systems engineering
- Mechanical systems engineering
- Software systems engineering”
INCOSE, the International Council on Systems Engineering¹, defines systems engineering as the following:
“Systems engineering is an interdisciplinary approach and means to enable the realization of successful systems. It focuses on defining customer needs and required functionality early in the development cycle, documenting requirements, then proceeding with design synthesis and system validation while considering the complete problem
- Operations
- Cost & schedule
- Performance
- Training & support
- Test
- Disposal
- Manufacturing
Systems engineering integrates all the disciplines and specialty groups into a team effort forming a structured development process that proceeds from concept to production to operation. systems engineering considers both the business and the technical needs of all customers with the goal of providing a quality product that meets the user needs.”
What need drove the creation of systems engineering? Projects that date back to Mesopotamia, Egypt and Greece employed systems engineering practices to achieve success in their large, complex projects. Examples include water distribution systems, irrigations systems and the Roman highway system. It wasn’t until modern times that systems engineering was formalized as a multi-disciplined approach to realizing the successful development of complex systems.
Large governments developing huge, complex systems realized the need for a systems approach. What were these projects? Weapon systems! Large complex weapon systems that were vital to a government’s ability to protect its people, defend its boarders and, when required, project power. The size, complexity, cost, and criticality of these systems demanded a holistic approach that helped to assure their successful development, production, test and operation. Examples include²:
- British multi-disciplined team formed (1937) to analyze air defense system
- Bell Labs supported Nike development (1939 – 1945)
- SAGE Air Defense system defined and managed by MIT (1951 – 1980)
- ATLAS Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Program managed by systems contractor Ramo-Wooldridge Corporation (1954 – 1964)
The success of those systems development programs proved the value of systems engineering. The United States government formalized systems engineering and documented it for use it in weapon systems development. The most notable document was the U.S. Department of Defense’s MIL-STD-499 which was released in 1969.
Since publication of MIL-STD-499, numerous systems engineering manuals, processes, procedures, and training courses have been institutionalized by such government organizations as the U.S. Army, NASA and the Defense systems Management College. Government contractors such as Martin Marietta, General Dynamics, Hewlett Packard, Boeing and RAND Corporation created a process, established internal training curriculums and institutionalized the discipline.
In the 1970’s, 1980’s and 1990’s systems engineering enjoyed widespread application. Systems engineering became a subject of interest for various industrial standards organizations who then created their own standards. Examples include:
- European Cooperation for space standardization, ECSS-E-10A (April 1996) system Engineering
- Electronics Industry Association, EIA-632 (December 1998), Processes for Engineering a system
- IEEE std 1220-1998, standard for Application and Management of the systems engineering Process
- Information Technology Association of America EIA-731-1, systems engineering Capability Model (August 2002)
In 1990 the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE) was formed. INCOSE is a not-for-profit organization founded to develop and disseminate the interdisciplinary principles and practices that enable the realization of successful systems³. Currently, INCOSE has over 6,000 members dedicated to sharing, promoting and advancing the best of systems engineering across the globe. Today INCOSE produces a variety of technical products including Technical Publications, Primers and Database Products.
In recent history, the systems engineering process has taken on added credibility as a means to improve the success of United states Department of Defense procurement programs. On April 7, 2009, The Washington Post published an article quoting Shay Assad, the Pentagon’s Director of Defense Procurement and Acquisition Policy. In the article, Mr. Assad provides additional details of Defense secretary Robert Gates’ revised priorities. In addition to sweeping program changes, the Pentagon will grow the acquisition workforce by 20,000 jobs from 127,000 to 147,000 employees. Of those new jobs, 11,000 will be workers who specialize in systems engineering, program management and logistics. Assad was quoted as calling it a ‘big step’ to addressing the chronic problems of buying expensive weapons systems that too often end up being over budget, late and fail to perform as expected.
Clearly the value of the systems engineering, the multi-discipline approach upon which it is founded, and expert practitioners of the systems engineering process have come of age. The world demands ever increasing complexity in their products and services while expecting high levels of performance and minimum costs and risks in their creation and implementation. It is through the fundamental process of systems engineering that past successes have been based and future goals will be achieved.
[1] http://www.incose.org/practice/whatissystemseng.aspx
For more information, call 317-536-7000, or email at Info@KevinKennedyAssociates.com.