Location
Cocoa Beach, FL
Start Date
5-4-1965 8:00 AM
Description
Technical management, often done "by "seat of the pants" during the airplane age, is "becoming more systematized and sophisticated to meet the challenge of the space age. Man's presence in space means that there are now many more alternatives to accomplishing a function. Functional flow diagrams present the technical manager with a rapid, comprehensive way to evaluate all the alternatives and the consequences of his decisions on the rest of the system. They also provide him with a tool to check the system design to assure that all the requirements are satisfied. The latest techniques are typified in the Air Force System Command Manuals 375-1* 2, 3, ^, and 5. One of these, AFSCM 375-5, "System Engineering Management Procedures", describes specific system engineering methods to be followed by recipients of large Air Force contracts. This paper describes the preparation of functional flow diagrams which will be of value to both engineers and their technical managers. The illustrations are typical for a Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) Program.
Functional flow diagrams were prepared on earlier programs, including Titan II and Titan III, and are one of the required products of AFSCM 375-5- Traditionally, these "old" flow diagrams take the form of sequences of functions needed to accomplish a desired operation or mission (see Figure l), Such diagrams, even when carried out to a lower indenture (see Figure 2), are of limited value. They tend to lag the conceptual and design efforts.
The new type of functional flow diagram (see Figure 3) starts where the traditional type ended. Let us see how Figure 3 vas developed, what it tells us, and how it can be used.
Functional Flow Diagrams: A New Tool For Engineering Management
Cocoa Beach, FL
Technical management, often done "by "seat of the pants" during the airplane age, is "becoming more systematized and sophisticated to meet the challenge of the space age. Man's presence in space means that there are now many more alternatives to accomplishing a function. Functional flow diagrams present the technical manager with a rapid, comprehensive way to evaluate all the alternatives and the consequences of his decisions on the rest of the system. They also provide him with a tool to check the system design to assure that all the requirements are satisfied. The latest techniques are typified in the Air Force System Command Manuals 375-1* 2, 3, ^, and 5. One of these, AFSCM 375-5, "System Engineering Management Procedures", describes specific system engineering methods to be followed by recipients of large Air Force contracts. This paper describes the preparation of functional flow diagrams which will be of value to both engineers and their technical managers. The illustrations are typical for a Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) Program.
Functional flow diagrams were prepared on earlier programs, including Titan II and Titan III, and are one of the required products of AFSCM 375-5- Traditionally, these "old" flow diagrams take the form of sequences of functions needed to accomplish a desired operation or mission (see Figure l), Such diagrams, even when carried out to a lower indenture (see Figure 2), are of limited value. They tend to lag the conceptual and design efforts.
The new type of functional flow diagram (see Figure 3) starts where the traditional type ended. Let us see how Figure 3 vas developed, what it tells us, and how it can be used.
