Critical Thoughts on Embedded Sustainment & Obsolescence
Critical Thoughts is where we share hard-won insights from the field. It’s not a blog—it’s a working record of what we’ve learned supporting sustainment, managing obsolescence, and partnering with OEMs on legacy challenges that don’t fit the usual models.
These are the strategic, technical, and sometimes messy realities behind keeping embedded systems mission-ready over the long haul.
GDCA presents a brand new YouTube series Recently, members of the GDCA team sat down to answer many common questions that they’ve been asked during their years working in GDCA and obsolescence management. We aim to provide our customers and partners with more information about how we can assist them and offer even more transparency…
If you’ve been around obsolescence management before, then you most likely understand what this phrase means and its importance in legacy equipment manufacturing. However, if you’re new to the scene or if you’re in need of a refresher, then this article is for you. Long-term availability of embedded boards and systems is what GDCA is…
Ask anyone who drives an older car. As the system ages, it develops its own quirks. You have to jiggle the shifter in park to get the keys out of the ignition. You have to pump the gas twice before it starts up on a cold day. The AC has to be turned off…
When a new source of supply isn’t enough All machines, and the parts that make them up, have a lifespan. Even software compatibility and certifications need to be considered when you have a piece of equipment that you plan to use for a decade or more. With how quickly technology is advancing every year, obsolescence…
It’s that time of year again: annual operating planning. Hooray! Jokes aside, successful planning relies on how well everyone understands the leadership team’s vision and their role in making the magic happen. The general approach is to develop an executive vision, followed by departmental plans. For 2023, most OEMs will continue dealing with booming demand…
It is easy to understand the multiple pressures OEMs feel at the end of a product’s lifecycle when there is still customer demand. For customers who need more support for discontinued products, the best-case scenario is that the OEM will free up the engineering resources needed to satisfy the request. The worst-case scenario is that…
Until the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, just-in-time (JIT) inventory management strategy was considered to be among the most reliable business models for manufacturing everything from cell phones to satellites. JIT was used to minimize component inventories and increase efficiency throughout the production process. For active products, that meant required materials arrived when they…
A widespread practice among original equipment manufacturers (OEM) is the last time buy (LTB) event, which is usually a warning call to customers that a product is approaching its end of life (EOL) stage. This practice varies in its execution, but it usually takes the shape of a six-month EOL notice with a six-month LTB…
DoD Programs routinely face a backlog of open cases for parts that are unprocurable owing to obsolescence or DMSMS. Problematic parts range from bolts and valves to complex computer electronics. When these cases are not quickly resolved, the fallout can be significant, resulting in undermined warfighters’ missions and jeopardized lives. In this critical thought, we’ll…
Like most people, I haven’t been traveling much since early 2020, but over these past couple of years of pandemic-imposed video calls, I’ve become amazed at how quickly and naturally we’ve formed trusting relationships with people we’ve never met in real life (IRL). If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video call…