Posts by GDCA
Re-imagining Product Lifecycles: The Future of Obsolescence
August 10, 2019
Obsolescence is at the tail end of the product lifecycle, the portion that no one wants to deal with but is critical to mission readiness. Our CEO, Ethan Plotkin, knows the issues well. In his talk, he presents new ways to re-imagining solutions to deal with the entire product lifecycle to better position for part…
Letter from the CEO – What the Customer Wants is Trust
July 22, 2019
What’s the difference between a customer/supplier relationship and a partnership? In a word: Trust. Sometimes it seems as if no one trusts anyone anymore, and it’s easy to see why. Most people involved in the embedded computing supply chain have a story to tell about some supplier who’s acted in a win–lose way, where it…
Why We Do It—GDCA’s Values and Legacy Embedded Systems
June 27, 2019
When it comes to proactive obsolescence management, no company is more trusted than GDCA in maintaining legacy embedded systems. Our core values combined with our commitment to our employees, our original equipment manufacturer (OEM) partners, and their customers create an environment of mutual trust for everyone. We have learned that the best way to keep…
How do you fulfill long-term demand for a system when you don’t have a long-term support contract?
May 15, 2019
Often, having a maintenance contract misleads Application OEMs and Prime Contractors into a false sense of long-term protection. When Primes are not privy to an accurate assessment of a system’s life cycle, gaps between the end of a contract and the continuing need for parts creates production and sustainment vulnerability. Reacting to these vulnerabilities adds…
The gap between EOL and your needs—why PLM doesn’t always work
March 22, 2019
Reassessing your company’s approach to legacy sustainment is a critical step in minimizing stress and maximizing profits. Since the early 1950s, product life-cycle management (PLM) has been the commercial best practice for managing value and lifetime profitability of products and systems. However, as technology has advanced exponentially, so have the needs of managing products with…
5 Common Miscalculations OEMs Make That Impede Effective Proactive Obsolescence Management
February 28, 2019
…and What You Can Do Embedded and Application OEMs both face issues with their customers when product life cycles are longer than originally anticipated. Thinking critically about servicing systems past component EOL notices is vital for effective forecasting and maintenance, not only for end users but for manufacturers as well. Paying attention to the following…
When Tomorrow Never Comes
February 22, 2019
Obsolescence and Changing Our Minds You’ve got to know when to hold ’em Know when to fold ’em Know when to walk away And know when to run “The Gambler” – Kenny Rogers Maybe the writing is on the wall. Maybe the truth is hidden in between the lines of your BOM. Maybe you really…
GDCA Inc. and Abaco Systems Strike Deal to Avoid Embedded EOL for Customers
February 6, 2019
Press Release LIVERMORE, Calif. — Feb. 6, 2019 — GDCA Inc., a California-based company that specializes in manufacturing obsolete embedded computer equipment, announced this week that it has joined forces with Abaco Systems, a leader in the electronics systems industry. Together, the companies have completed an initial transfer of 13 product lines from Abaco to…
7 Perspectives about Legacy Engineering
October 26, 2018
Once component EOL notices have been issued and COTS embedded boards are discontinued, the processes for keeping your embedded systems vital drastically changes and so must your overall thinking about them. When the supply chain is active, acquiring the boards and components you need requires simply placing an order. Extending or even reviving a product…
Why Repeated LTBs Fail and Legacy Assurance Succeeds
September 11, 2018
Albert Einstein said, “Problems cannot be solved with the same thinking that created them,” and we agree. The speed with which technology is advancing causes new issues in system sustainability; problems that up until now, provide chronic headaches for most engineers and companies. For instance, note the vast differences between the processes of building embedded…