CONSULTANCYSystems & Configuration Engineering

θB ≈ 56°Brewster’s angle: where reflected light is perfectly polarised. The origin of the company’s name, and its standard for clarity.

Every requirement traceable. Every configuration under control.

End-to-end traceability across product, process, people and tooling, from ConOps to volume production. Independent systems engineering and configuration management for defence and high-tech programmes, backed by 15 years in defence, automotive and semiconductor engineering.

What I do

Services

End-to-end traceability

One accountable specialist who connects R&D, D&E and the factory, and makes your existing tools and processes work together instead of selling you a new platform.

Interim support inside your programme at an hourly or day rate, or a fixed-price deliverable such as a current-state architecture report or a configuration management plan. Remote-first, on-site in the Netherlands when the work needs it.

Configuration management

Functional leadership of the configuration management (CM) discipline on a programme or product line, from bid to delivery.

  • CM scope of work and contract requirements analysed during the bid phase
  • CM work package management, where delegated by the project manager
  • Configuration management plan written and maintained
  • Contract, functional, allocated and product baselines
  • Configuration item selection and product structure for common elements, variants and options
  • Part numbering, naming conventions, and hardware and software release management
  • Configuration control board defined, organised and steered, including the work before and after each board
  • Functional and physical configuration audits, and verification of the CM system’s content and integrity
  • CM deliverables to the customer, and CM support at engineering and programme reviews
  • CM actions coordinated across departments, and new product versions prepared with product management

Supplier and customer CM

Configuration control that holds across company boundaries.

  • CM capability assessment of partners, subcontractors and suppliers
  • Flow-down of CM requirements through the statement of work
  • Audits of CM implementation at subcontractors and suppliers
  • CM requirements clarified and adjusted with the customer
  • Build-to-spec and design-to-spec practices managed across the boundary

System architecture

Architecture grounded in what the organisation actually needs, not in what is fashionable.

  • System requirements analysed and structured into a clear picture of objectives and constraints
  • System-level architecture that fits cost, performance and schedule
  • Complex systems decomposed into subsystems with clear interfaces
  • Trade-offs across mechanical, optical, electrical and software disciplines
  • Current-state and target architecture, with the roadmap between them and its dependencies made explicit
  • Technical risks identified early, with mitigation plans
  • Large structured documents that can be reviewed by people who were not in the room

System-of-systems and integration

The technical baseline held, and the interfaces between systems under control.

  • System-of-systems engineering and lifecycle management
  • Requirements engineering and traceability in DOORS and DOORS Next
  • System-level requirements flowed down to functions and subsystems, with acceptance criteria
  • Integration planning, and the verification strategy that proves it
  • Verification, validation and qualification strategies with manufacturing and test
  • Root cause analysis during integration and customer qualification

Solution architecture and bid support

From mission objectives and pain points to a solution concept the programme can deliver.

  • Challenges translated into solution concepts and ConOps
  • Proposal support: technical volumes, white papers and statements of work
  • High-level integration concepts, technical dependencies and risks
  • Architectural choices substantiated with enterprise and domain architects
  • Advice to project teams, and oversight of implementation against the architecture
  • Transition from concept to detailed design

PLM and digital transformation

Engineering processes from ideation to industrialisation and end of life.

  • PLM and digital transformation strategy
  • R&D, engineering and new product development processes designed and improved
  • Business requirements translated into solution designs, through to configuration, testing, deployment and adoption
  • Engineering change, design technical approval and technical investigations
  • EBoM and MBoM alignment in SAP and Teamcenter
  • Traceability from DOORS Next to Rhapsody, Simulink and SCADE models, with models managed as configuration items

Quality, tooling and training

Evidence that holds up in front of an auditor, a customer or a certifying authority.

  • Software CM for DO-178 and HW DO-254 safety-critical functions
  • CMMI, AS9100 and ISO 9001 procedures, templates and audits
  • Test management support, from dry runs to FAT, HAT and SAT
  • Supplier and parts quality control plan reviews
  • Tool selection, integrations and workflows (DOORS, Teamcenter, SVN, Redmine)
  • Training and support for teams on CM processes and tools

Interim roles

Configuration manager · Systems engineer · System-of-systems engineer · System architect · Technical solution architect · PLM consultant

How I work

From concept to volume

One unbroken thread across product, process, people and tooling, through R&D, D&E and the factory floor, so every decision, change and part traces back to the need it serves.

  1. i

    Concept

    ConOps, stakeholder needs and top-level requirements.

  2. ii

    Development

    Architecture, design baselines and verification.

  3. iii

    Industrialisation

    Product baselines released into manufacturing.

  4. iv

    Volume

    Controlled change in series production and service.

Gap analysis first

Every engagement starts with how your processes, projects, products and tools work today, and where the trace breaks.

Concrete deliverables

Architecture reports, traceability models and configuration management plans, not generic advice.

Only data that earns its place

Traceability across hardware, software, mechanical, system and interface levels, without generating data nobody uses.

Visible progress

Progress reports every two weeks, with a view on how the product will evolve and the risks to expect.

Survivorship bias“If you do not need to do, then do not do.”

Where I work

Sectors

Regulated, long-lifecycle programmes where a lost trace or an uncontrolled change is expensive.

Defence

Experience across air, land and naval defence programmes, now available to the Dutch defence industry: long-lifecycle, high-compliance work to MIL-STD, EIA-649 and AS9100, classified data handling and formal design reviews.

High-tech and semiconductor

Brainport OEMs and their supply chain: traceability and configuration discipline across R&D, prototype and volume production, drawing on work from EUV lithography systems to electric trucks.

Track record

Experience

From naval and airborne defence systems to electric trucks and EUV lithography, on multi-site programmes across the Netherlands, the USA, Germany and Turkey.

  1. Wafer

    ASML

    Systems configuration engineer and architect

    Managed the valid configuration of the EUV EXE High NA proto systems through integration and factory transfer. Contributed to the functional and physical configuration maps and an as-is/to-be architecture proposal at integration-strategy level, and prepared the release notice that hands the architectural baseline over to the factory. Chaired the system-level change board and led alignment across Veldhoven, Wilton, San Diego and Hillsboro.

  2. Electric truck

    DAF Trucks

    Requirements and change engineer, DOORS Next key user

    Managed requirements traceability and sprint baselines for the electric truck programme, contributed to MBSE-based architectural decisions, and linked DOORS Next artefacts to Simulink and Rhapsody model outputs. Wrote the embedded engineering department’s first baseline establishment guide.

  3. Environmental conditioning unit

    Anova R&D Technologies

    Configuration management team lead

    Built the company’s configuration management unit from the ground up, including software CM for DO-178 DAL-A and DAL-B functions, and contributed to requirement-to-test traceability with DOORS and SCADE.

  4. Torpedo countermeasure

    Koç Information and Defence Technologies

    Configuration manager, also quality and test manager

    Managed configuration for 16 naval platform defence projects to MIL-STD-973, EIA-649-1 and CMMI, and completed a full migration to a new CM toolchain with zero data loss.

  5. Chaff and flare dispenser

    Havelsan

    Configuration manager

    Managed configuration and change for F-16 and F-4E countermeasure dispensing system programmes, and facilitated the configuration change board with the air force customer.

Portrait of Feyza Kaplan

About

Feyza Kaplan

Founder and consultant

Systems and configuration engineer with 15 years on critical programmes in defence, automotive and semiconductor equipment. Trained as a materials engineer, with a habit of treating configuration the way a lab treats a sample: identified, controlled and traceable. Working principles: accountability, and plain, verifiable evidence over generic claims; honesty about what fits in scope and time; and leaving every client with clearer, more reliable practices than I found.

Training
CM2, ANSI/EIA-649, AS9100 Rev D, CMMI Dev, ISO 19011, FMEA, EASA Part 21
Standards
MIL-STD-973, 498, 461 and 810, ANSI/EIA-649, CMMI 1.3 and 2.0, AS9100, DO-178, HW DO-254, ISO 9001
Tools
DOORS and DOORS Next, Teamcenter, SAP, CANIAS, SVN, Redmine, ClearCase, ClearQuest, Jira, Git
Ways of working
V-model, waterfall, SAFe and Agile
AI tools
Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini for analysis and documentation
Languages
Turkish and English; German and Dutch in progress

Beyond client work

Closing the AI gap between generations

AI is changing how engineering work gets done, but not at the same pace for everyone. Alongside client work, I volunteer time to help close the gap between generations.

For experienced professionals

Hands-on, practical sessions on using AI assistants in everyday engineering work, such as analysis, documentation and requirements, with clear attention to data confidentiality.

For early-career engineers

The engineering judgement that AI does not replace: why a baseline matters, how to verify an answer, and how to keep work traceable.

Together

Mixed-generation sessions where experience and fluency with new tools are shared in both directions.

Contact

Let’s talk about your programme.

info@56consultancy.com
Phone
+31 6 21 95 34 02
LinkedIn
linkedin.com/in/feyza-nur-kumral-kaplan
Location
Eindhoven region, the Netherlands

Last updated 8 October 2026

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