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GDCA, Inc., the leader in proactive, commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) legacy and obsolescence management, will be presenting at the 2014 Defense Manufacturing (DMC) and Diminishing Manufacturing Sources and Material Shortages (DMSMS) conferences, December 1 to 4, in San Antonio, TX.
Because the Department of Defense and the defense industry in general are tasked with the development and maintenance of critical long-term programs, teams continue to struggle with the difficulties of obsolescence and legacy management. Lengthening project timelines, increased costs, and reduced budgets bring with them growing concerns in today’s global military R&D race.
The decade-plus life span of active systems is sometimes treated like an afterthought, yet these systems continue to play an important role in the challenges faced by the defense industry. However, the gap between active commercial products still available by the original manufacturer and legacy systems continues to widen as military program life cycles far outlast the commercial technology within the system. As a result, program managers today encounter a growing need for proactive obsolescence mitigation activity early in a program life cycle.
Earlier this fall, defense undersecretary Frank Kendall stressed the ongoing need to innovate while remaining affordable, stating that some projects had only “earned [their] way back into our budget by successfully reducing sustainment costs.” He warned that industry needed to take note.
Inevitable as gravity, yet far less predictable, obsolescence costs can turn the sustainment period of a project into a monster, devouring up to an estimated 60 percent of a program’s total budget, but this outcome doesn’t have to be inevitable. GDCA is honored to work with several critical defense programs, and representatives will be at DMC and DMSMS to offer their expertise on managing COTS and custom embedded products in the face of obsolescence. They will also offer some insight into what has been working and the struggles still ahead.
GDCA has been collaborating with sustainment teams to update forecasting methods (particularly improved predictability in terms of repair and new-build replenishment estimates) and will be looking forward to an opportunity to validate its processes with other sustainment experts and customers. In addition to presentations at the conference, Ethan Plotkin and Kaye Porter will be on-site at the conferences to interface with attendees, provide obsolescence risk assessments, and demonstrate the company’s more than twenty-five years of legacy forecasting experience.
Presented at 10am on Dec 4th at DMSMS: Delivering Affordable Readiness: We Can’t Do It Alone (Abstract Available)
Presented at 11:15am on Dec 4th at DMSMS: SD-22 Outlines the Solutions: Why Hasn’t It Worked? (Abstract Available)
About GDCA, Inc.
GDCA is the industry pioneer in the emerging field of product legacy management. Collaborating across the embedded supply chain, GDCA has developed tools and systems to turn the costs and hardships of obsolescence management into an easily manageable business activity.
With operational headquarters in Silicon Valley, GDCA has global partners across the Americas, Europe, and Asia. GDCA has provided a safety net for legacy customers needing access to products COTS and custom embedded boards that have otherwise gone EOL. To learn more about GDCA’s Proactive Legacy Management (PLM+) Solutions, please visit http://www.gdca.com.
