Case Studies and Metrics for
Evaluating Engineering Designs

Terry Bahill
Systems and Industrial Engineering
PO Box 210020
University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ 85721-0020, USA
terry@sie.arizona.edu
http://www.sie.arizona.edu/eysengr/slides/cases.ppt
© 1998-2004 Bahill

We developed five classes of metrics: Design Difficulty composed of six submetrics, Resources composed of three submetrics, Performance composed of four submetrics, Systems Engineering Fundamentals composed of 11 submetrics, and Development Environment composed of 11 submetrics. These metrics were applied to the designs of six airplanes: the Boeing 777 commercial airplane, the Lockheed F-117 stealth fighter, the Northrop B-2 stealth bomber, the McDonnell Douglas C-17 military transport, the Learjet Model 60 business jet, and the McDonnell Douglas MD-11 commercial airplane. Comparisons are made of the six designs using these five classes of metrics. All this data enables the suggestion that systems with good systems engineering process produced better products.

This talk should be preceded by the talk "Metrics and Case Studies for Evaluating Engineering Designs" Reference [68]. This lecture is designed for engineers. This talk requires an overhead projector (or PowerPoint and a computer projection system). This talk takes forty minutes.