OBSOLESCENCE MANAGEMENT

Obsolescence is defined as the loss, or impending loss of the manufacturers or suppliers of items, or shortages of raw materials. The rate of technological innovation coupled with the challenging in-service lives of defence equipments, systems and services mean that it is inevitable that obsolescence will impact on all defence projects. Obsolescence can be managed and mitigated, the cost of mitigation increases as the item moves closer to becoming obsolete.

Obsolescence management should therefore be undertaken as early as possible and as an integral part of the design, production and in-service support stages in order to minimize potential remedial expenditure and thereby the overall cost of ownership.

Quorum Logistic Support conducts obsolescence to address issues such as:

• The impact of equipment being unavailable or degraded due to lack of spares
• The probability of obsolescence occurring
• How the rate of technological advancement and/or new legislation will impact on the ability to support the project

A formal risk assessment of the above factors must be conducted in order to identify the most appropriate obsolescence strategy:

REACTIVE - where obsolescence problems will be addressed as and when they occur and can be expensive
PROACTIVE - where upfront investment is made to identify obsolescence problems early with the possible use of component monitoring tools and provides the following benefits:

• Early prediction of obsolescence problems with components
• Provides increased flexibility and a greater range of options to mitigate obsolescence issues
• Allows forward planning of obsolescence costs and in general provides a more cost effective way to manage obsolescence

An Obsolescence Management Plan (OMP) is produced to address the factors applicable to the obsolescence strategy as well as the analysis and trade-off decisions in support of that strategy using the guidelines of BS7000-5:2001.