Issue link: https://resources.randsim.com/i/1510288
6 Product complexity has reshaped development processes • As products continue to get increasingly more complex -- driven by customers' expectations for advanced features, improved safety and efficiency, etc– they are not "just" assemblies of mechanical parts anymore, but incorporate electronics, sensors, controls, embedded software ‐ besides structural, thermal, electromagnetic, etc performance, engineers today need to consider many other complex issues that may affect performance, such as uninterrupted connectivity, software V&V, etc • Consequently, product development processes have been evolving also: ‐ from breaking down the design process into smaller pieces and by discipline, which helps reduce product complexity and allows for thorough verification at component level ‐ to combining engineering disciplines, along with their models of varying orders of fidelity (3-D, 1-D, 0-D) into engineering practices based on Model-based Systems Engineering (MBSE), which allows for optimal system integration and understanding of dependencies across subsystems … ‐ …. because finding system-level flaws late in the development cycle can lead to over-design, cost overruns and ill-considered design trade-offs as engineers scramble to meet product launch deadlines. • Environmental impact is an additional dimension in the overall product development process