Form, fit and function

Last updated

Form, Fit, and Function (also F3 or FFF) is a concept used in various industries, including manufacturing, engineering, and architecture, to describe aspects of a product's design, performance, and compliance to a specification. F3 originated in military logistics to describe interchangeable parts: if F3 for two components have the same set of characteristics, i.e. they have the same shape or form, same connections or fit, and perform the same function, they can be substituted one for another. [1] The idea behind F3 is to contractually require the original manufacturer to provide the customer (US government) with the free use of F3 data so that the customer can second source the part and thus enable competition between multiple suppliers. In practice, F3 is usually used not for final products (like entire weapon systems), but for the procurement of components and subsystems. [2]

Contents

FFF refers to a set of characteristics or requirements that are essential for the design and compatibility of products, components, or systems, and can have legal considerations in regulated industries like aviation and defense (e.g., for technical data rights and configuration management). [3] [4] [5]

The concept originates in the 1960s, and in some cases called "form-fit-function". [6] The United States (US) Government formally recognized it in the legal incorporation of Public Law 98-525 regarding technical data and design changes. [7] F3 can also refer to the ability of a replacement unit or technology upgrade to be compatible with existing systems, or be compatible with change control procedures (e.g., NASA's use in reliability via military standards). [8] [9] [10]

Alternate Uses

Some organizations have supplemental considerations for F3. The United States Navy has been using Form, Fit, Function, and Interface (F3I) since the 1970s, and NASA has published references to Form, Fit, Function, and Reliability to facilitate reliable designs. [11] [12] [13]

Definitions

In the Code of Federal Regulations - US Government

Source: [14]

Form The form of a commodity is defined by its configuration (including the geometrically measured configuration), material, and material properties that uniquely characterize it. For software, the form means the design, logic flow, and algorithms.

Fit The fit of a commodity is defined by its ability to physically interface or connect with or become an integral part of another commodity. For software, the fit is defined by its ability to interface or connect with a defense article.

Function The function of a commodity is the action or actions it is designed to perform. For software, the function means the action or actions the software performs directly related to a defense article or as a standalone application.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Systems engineering</span> Interdisciplinary field of engineering

Systems engineering is an interdisciplinary field of engineering and engineering management that focuses on how to design, integrate, and manage complex systems over their life cycles. At its core, systems engineering utilizes systems thinking principles to organize this body of knowledge. The individual outcome of such efforts, an engineered system, can be defined as a combination of components that work in synergy to collectively perform a useful function.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Work breakdown structure</span> A deliverable-orientated breakdown of a project into smaller components.

A work-breakdown structure (WBS) in project management and systems engineering is a deliverable-oriented breakdown of a project into smaller components. A work breakdown structure is a key project management element that organizes the team's work into manageable sections. The Project Management Body of Knowledge defines the work-breakdown structure as a "hierarchical decomposition of the total scope of work to be carried out by the project team to accomplish the project objectives and create the required deliverables."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Configuration management</span> Process for maintaining consistency of a product attributes with its design

Configuration management (CM) is a management process for establishing and maintaining consistency of a product's performance, functional, and physical attributes with its requirements, design, and operational information throughout its life. The CM process is widely used by military engineering organizations to manage changes throughout the system lifecycle of complex systems, such as weapon systems, military vehicles, and information systems. Outside the military, the CM process is also used with IT service management as defined by ITIL, and with other domain models in the civil engineering and other industrial engineering segments such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, and buildings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Logistics</span> Management of the flow of resources

Logistics is the part of supply chain management that deals with the efficient forward and reverse flow of goods, services, and related information from the point of origin to the point of consumption according to the needs of customers. Logistics management is a component that holds the supply chain together. The resources managed in logistics may include tangible goods such as materials, equipment, and supplies, as well as food and other consumable items.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Systems development life cycle</span> Systems engineering terms

In systems engineering, information systems and software engineering, the systems development life cycle (SDLC), also referred to as the application development life cycle, is a process for planning, creating, testing, and deploying an information system. The SDLC concept applies to a range of hardware and software configurations, as a system can be composed of hardware only, software only, or a combination of both. There are usually six stages in this cycle: requirement analysis, design, development and testing, implementation, documentation, and evaluation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Product lifecycle</span> Duration of processing of products from inception, to engineering, design & manufacture

In industry, product lifecycle management (PLM) is the process of managing the entire lifecycle of a product from its inception through the engineering, design and manufacture, as well as the service and disposal of manufactured products. PLM integrates people, data, processes, and business systems and provides a product information backbone for companies and their extended enterprises.

Product data management (PDM) is the name of a business function within product lifecycle management (PLM) that denotes the management and publication of product data. In software engineering, this is known as version control. The goals of product data management include ensuring all stakeholders share a common understanding, that confusion during the execution of the processes is minimized, and that the highest standards of quality controls are maintained. PDM should not be confused with product information management (PIM).

In software project management, software testing, and software engineering, verification and validation is the process of checking that a software engineer system meets specifications and requirements so that it fulfills its intended purpose. It may also be referred to as software quality control. It is normally the responsibility of software testers as part of the software development lifecycle. In simple terms, software verification is: "Assuming we should build X, does our software achieve its goals without any bugs or gaps?" On the other hand, software validation is: "Was X what we should have built? Does X meet the high-level requirements?"

In software development, code reuse, also called software reuse, is the use of existing software, or software knowledge, to build new software, following the reusability principles.

In the context of software engineering, software quality refers to two related but distinct notions:

A United States defense standard, often called a military standard, "MIL-STD", "MIL-SPEC", or (informally) "MilSpecs", is used to help achieve standardization objectives by the U.S. Department of Defense.

A systems integrator is a person or company that specializes in bringing together component subsystems into a whole and ensuring that those subsystems function together, a practice known as system integration. They also solve problems of automation. Systems integrators may work in many fields but the term is generally used in the information technology (IT) field such as computer networking, the defense industry, the mass media, enterprise application integration, business process management or manual computer programming. Data quality issues are an important part of the work of systems integrators.

Integrated logistics support (ILS) is a technology in the system engineering to lower a product life cycle cost and decrease demand for logistics by the maintenance system optimization to ease the product support. Although originally developed for military purposes, it is also widely used in commercial customer service organisations.

The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) is the principal set of rules regarding Government procurement in the United States, and is codified at Chapter 1 of Title 48 of the Code of Federal Regulations, 48 CFR 1. It covers many of the contracts issued by the US military and NASA, as well as US civilian federal agencies.

AUTOSAR is a global development partnership founded in 2003 by automotive manufacturers, suppliers and other companies from the electronics, semiconductor and software industries. Its purpose is to develop and establish an open and standardized software architecture for automotive electronic control units (ECUs).

A specification often refers to a set of documented requirements to be satisfied by a material, design, product, or service. A specification is often a type of technical standard.

System requirements in spacecraft systems are the specific system requirements needed to design and operate a spacecraft or a spacecraft subsystem.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Function model</span>

In systems engineering, software engineering, and computer science, a function model or functional model is a structured representation of the functions within the modeled system or subject area.

In the United States military integrated acquisition lifecycle the Technical section has multiple acquisition "Technical Reviews". Technical reviews and audits assist the acquisition and the number and types are tailored to the acquisition. Overall guidance flows from the Defense Acquisition Guidebook chapter 4, with local details further defined by the review organizations. Typical topics examined include adequacy of program/contract metrics, proper staffing, risks, budget, and schedule.

Human Systems Integration (HSI) is an interdisciplinary managerial and technical approach to developing and sustaining systems which focuses on the interfaces between humans and modern technical systems. The objective of HSI is to provide equal weight to human, hardware, and software elements of system design throughout systems engineering and lifecycle logistics management activities across the lifecycle of a system. The end goal of HSI is to optimize total system performance and minimize total ownership costs. The field of HSI integrates work from multiple human centered domains of study include training, manpower, personnel, human factors engineering, safety, occupational health, survivability and habitability.

References

  1. Moore, James W. (May–Jun 1994). "Structure for a Defense Software Reuse Marketplace". ACM Ada Letters. XIV (3): 88.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: date format (link)
  2. Deets 1985, Abstract.
  3. "Title 48, Chapter 2, Subchapter H, Part 252, Subpart 252.2, Section 252.227-7015". Electronic Code of Federal Regulations. Retrieved 2023-10-14.
  4. "Chapter 11: Configuration Management". GlobalSpec. Retrieved 2023-10-14.
  5. "NASA Procedural Requirements: Configuration Management". NASA. Retrieved 2023-10-14.
  6. "Form-Fit-Function" (PDF). Defense Technical Information Center. Retrieved 2023-10-14.
  7. "Public Law 98-525" (PDF). U.S. Government. Retrieved 2023-10-14.
  8. "Commercial Plastic Microcircuits: A Total Solution For Military Applications" (PDF). NASA. Retrieved 2023-10-14.
  9. "Quick Search Document: 69354". Defense Logistics Agency. Retrieved 2023-10-14.
  10. "Quick Search Document: 67840". Defense Logistics Agency. Retrieved 2023-10-14.
  11. "NASA Systems Engineering Handbook" (PDF). NASA. Retrieved 2023-10-14.
  12. "Configuration Management" (PDF). Defense Technical Information Center. Retrieved 2023-10-14.
  13. "NAVAIR Configuration Management Policy Manual" (PDF). AcqNotes. Retrieved 2023-10-14.
  14. "Title 22, Chapter I, Subchapter M, Part 120, Subpart C, Section 120.42". Electronic Code of Federal Regulations. Retrieved 2023-10-14.

Sources