Stage division method and the main tasks of products’ lifetime cycle

Due to the high requirement of the products’ quality and updating speed, system engineering attracts broad attention. Great emphasis has been laid on the lifetime cycle process of system engineering and the theory of product’s lifetime cycle. The products’ lifetime cycle design, lifetime cycle management as well as the analysis and control of the lifetime cycle cost (LCC) all embody the theory of product’s lifetime cycle. With this theory, we can not only get whole acquaintance with the product from the beginning, but also take into account the restraint and influence of the subsequent work, so that design flaws could be noticed in advance, time and cost could be reduced, quality could be improved and the competitiveness could be greatly enhanced. Stage division is an indispensable part of lifetime cycle theory. This chapter analyzes overseas and domestic research status as well as stage division method with its main tasks. Furthermore, it takes several concrete products as examples for introduction, including the weaponry, aircraft, automobile, vessel, construction and some others. At last, this chapter gives a simple analysis of interrelationship between these stages and elaborates the theory of system engineering method from time dimension.