Lifecycle
The Human Factor: When losing older workers leads to obsolescence
April 10, 2023
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…
The Win-Lose Dilemma
February 18, 2022
All people face personal dilemmas during their lifetimes. Corporations, made up of people, face a fair number of professional dilemmas as well. Companies that produce embedded computer products are aware of the issues surrounding component obsolescence. At the end of these products’ active lives, supporting these aging or legacy products consumes more than just manufacturing…
Wood Burning as Disposition for End-of-Life Products
June 19, 2021
Wood Burning as Disposition for End-of-Life Products I live on a ranch in northern California. This winter, we accounted for the dead oak trees and cleared them for the first time. Some of the wood we used for decoration, some to frame the dog’s new pen, and some we decided to sell. Because we do…
Mergers and Acquisitions
April 6, 2021
Mergers and Acquisitions Sometimes we think the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. These days, it is not difficult to think this when social media allows us to paint beautiful pictures of who we are from a computer screen. During my marketing research, I came across a media campaign for an…
Recap: Sustainment Symposium 2020
March 10, 2021
The team here at GDCA has always looked forward to attending the DMSMS conference each December as a capstone to the year. It was a magical time when DMSMS wonks obsessed with DMSMS solutions and obsolescence management were no longer relegated to a corner of the exhibit hall. We were front and center, and questions of how to innovate and advance the work…
Helping you keep your New Year’s resolution
March 8, 2021
I used to be a cigarette smoker. Each New Year I resolved to stop smoking, and I’d stash my “last” half-pack of cigarettes deep inside a dark drawer. Months later, when I felt I needed just one cigarette, I’d retrieve the pack and start smoking again. For a long time, I tried nicotine-replacement therapies: patches,…
How to Find Discontinued Embedded Boards
November 10, 2020
The inevitable has finally arrived. An embedded board in your application has been discontinued by the original equipment manufacturer (OEM). Your company needs a critical embedded board, and revenue depends on timely delivery. But the OEM cannot build additional boards for you and the franchised suppliers don’t have any inventory left. What can you do? Predictably,…
Legacy Assurance vs. Just in Time (JIT) Procurement
May 10, 2018
Innovative ways of thinking are tantamount to making changes in procedural methods. Just in Time (JIT) procurement for acquiring EOL’d embedded boards is often not an option for Legacy Equipment Manufacturing (LEM). Once an EOL notice has been issued and the parts for your system are no longer in production you’ll want to know the…
Obsolescence: Too Soon or Not Soon Enough?
February 26, 2014
It is strange how onboarding the concept of legacy sustainment can change the way you look at the world around you. On a recent road trip along one of the nation’s many two-lane highways, I found myself wondering about the thousands upon thousands of wooden utility poles dotting the landscape. How often are they repaired?…
Looking at Legacy: Proactively managing the risk of counterfeit components
March 5, 2013
In general, defense sustainment and counterfeit avoidance has been left to DMSMS teams and logistics or engineering tactics. However, so far the solution has primarily been to develop standards, authentication and anti-counterfeit technologies. These responses have been critical, but have largely remained reactive and have not produced the dynamic collaboration crucial to maintaining a healthy,…