B-2 Electronic Digital Assembly Lifecycle
On July 17, 1989, B-2 Air Vehicle 1, "Spirit
of America," became first to fly without physical masters and mockups.
Three weeks later, on August 11, a key demonstration of the B-2
Electronic Digital Assembly and supporting 2D/3D Data Base was given to
Dick Chaney, then Secretary of Defense (Secroduct DeveDef), and his new
number 2, Don Atwood, who had just joined as Undersecretary of Defense
for Procurement. Jeff Mirich, now Disney Studios CIO, was one of
the visionary, collaborative, young leaders, who enabled modular product
development of across Northrop, Boeing, Vought partners with a dual view
Product Structure, later termed with BOD-BOM-BOP in the General Motors
System Engineered Product Development process.
The Physical Bill of Design (BOD)
Section-Zone-Installation Assembly of Modular BOM Configuration Items
(CI's) into an Air Vehicle Assembly Structure (VAS) of
Sections-Zones-Installation Assembly structure. The visual
"Skeletal Schematic" structure of Northrop's internal NCAD system was
learned from GM's "Visual Index" in its internal CADENCE system.
The Skeletal Schematic went a step beyond to capture "pre-Part"
Interface Criteria Definition (ICD) and Envelope data framework into
which Detail Parts would "Install."
The Modular BOM System-Subsystem-Modular
Configuration Item (CI)-Component structure and connective system
topology across the multiple modules of the of the world's largest
flying computer systems, surpassing the Space Shuttle at the time.