Method and system for design maturity evaluation and control of complex product variable configuration item

In order to improve quality and efficiency of complex product development, the idea of design maturity is applied to control the evolution process of variable configuration item (VCI) of complex product. The method of maturity fuzzy evaluation is put forward to calculate the design maturity. Five maturity gates are applied to control the design process of VCI. The system of computer aided maturity evaluation and control for VCI is developed. The system architecture, main metadata and the key functions are described. The system was applied to manage design maturity for some civil helicopter. Compared with the traditional design pattern, the average number of part version of flight control system was reduced. The proposed method and developed system was verified.