1.

What is Obsolescence and provide some examples in a Malaysian context

According to the Defense Acquisition University’s Glossary of Defense Acquisition Acronyms

& Terms, 16th ed., obsolescence is a lack of availability of an item or raw material resulting
from statutory and process changes, as well as new designs. Obsolescence deals with the
process or condition by which a piece of equipment becomes no longer useful, or a form and
function no longer is currently available for production or repair (Department of Defense ,
2018).

1a provide some examples in a Malaysian context

Within many organisations’ obsolescence management, if it is done at all, is done reactively.

It is very seldom part of the design, development and sustainment policy and certainly the
expenses of reactive obsolescence management are commonly unknown. Within the military
and most defence contractors’ obsolescence difficulties are generally solved serially within
projects, on an ad hoc basis, with no lessons learnt feedback to other parts of the system or
across the organisation.

This state of affairs arises as a direct result of the reactive nature of obsolescence
management with the difficulties mainly being discovered during repair in response to
equipment failure. At the time, the parts status is discovered it may be too late for last time
buys and the part is no longer available. Significant fee may then be involved in searching
for a comparable part or in the worst case having to redesign the system. The fact that an
equivalent part can be found may only offer a short-term resolution since the total parts
obsolescence status of other components on the board or other boards within the equipment
is not known (Smith, 2000).

The Royal Malaysian Air Force acquired the British BAE Hawk prototypes of ten (10) Hawk
108s and 18 Hawk 208s in the late 1990 replacing the old A-4 Skyhawk PTM. The BAE
Systems Hawk is a British single-engine, jet-powered advanced trainer aircraft. It has been
used in a training capacity and as a low-cost combat aircraft. (Wikipedia, 2019).

RMAF has an annual obsolescence conference between BAE Hawk/RMAF called

Obsolescence Working Group which redefines obsolescence as diminishing manufacturing
sources and material shortages (DMSMS). The DMSMS program seeks to mitigate the
effect of obsolescence on RMAF BAE Hawk 108/208 from acquisition through disposal.
Users can generate forecasting reports such as component health projections, create
current system and assembly health analysis, or project the health analysis 20 years out to
evaluate future obsolescence (BAE Systems, 2019).
2. Is a proactive approach to Obsolescence necessary and why can a purely
reactive one not be used?

Obsolescence management strategies of Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) can be

characterized within two dissimilar dominions: Proactive & Reactive ( SiliconExpert
Technologies, 2008).

Proactive approaches to obsolescence emphasis on forecasting component obsolescence

prior to the issuance of the Product Discontinuance Notice (PDN). OEMs adopting a
proactive passage to obsolescence management assign risk grades to each component and
have suitable measures in place to deal with the lifecycle alteration of a component in the
future. Such an approach permits the OEM to forecast lifecycle events long before a PDN is
ever issued, permitting time to commit resources, pursue for solutions and forecast cost
months or years in advance (Peter Sandborn, 2006).

Whereas a reactive approach to obsolescence management depends on acting once a

component event such as the release of a PDN has already taken place, advising the OEM
of an impending change in the component’s lifecycle. Reactive obsolescence management
is concerned with determining an appropriate, immediate resolution to the problem of
components becoming obsolete. Some of the mutual reactive strategies are lifetime buy,
bridge buy, purchasing parts from aftermarket sources, part replacement, emulation, and
reclamation.

In proactive management, steps are taken prior to actual obsolescence of a part. This
strategy is mainly used for critical parts that have high risk of becoming obsolete or if the
availability of the component is low after the part becomes obsolete. Proactive management
involves using forecasting methodology to predict obsolescence dates of various parts in a
product, analysing the risk of obsolescence of critical parts in a Bill of Material (BOM) and
then taking necessary steps to manage obsolescence (Reactive Obsolescence
Management, 2012).

2a Why can a purely reactive one not be used?

Most shared resolution strategies are reactive in nature, as these provide “quick-fix”
resolutions once the obsolescence has already befallen. There are a plenty of parties that
recommend applying proactive obsolescence management strategies in order to curtail the
risk of obsolescence and associated costs. However, it is vital to do the risk assessment of
all components in the Bill of Material (BOM), prior to choosing a reactive or proactive
strategy.
If obsolescence of a component has low impact on costs, then it may be prudent to use a
reactive strategy as these strategies are easier to implement. If the probability of
obsolescence is low and the impact is high costs, then it is advisable to use proactive
mitigation measures. If both the probability of obsolescence and impact costs are high, then
these components are regarded as ‘critical’ and hence, it is necessary to adopt a proactive
mitigation strategy (Pingle, 2015).

A reactive management would mean simply reacting to occurring issues: replace parts when
they are defective, check the availability of instrumentation when its phase-out is announced
and plan to implement a new automation system when the existing one fails.

This reactive management approach logically increases the risk of unexpected production/
operation/availability downtimes. Thus, it is highly not recommended a to opt for a purely
reactive approach for the entire set of instrumentation but maybe for those parts of it that
aren’t critical, comparatively cheap and alternative is easily available. It would be best to go
for an amalgamation of best practices that have proven to be easily realized and to generate
concrete advantages.

3. Consider the varying advantages and disadvantages of delivering OM either through

an “in-house” Malaysian Armed Forces solution or by using an external commercial option,
or gradual blend of two.

Obsolescence is progressively affecting Malaysian Armed Forces systems at a primary

phase of their life cycles. Availability of replacement parts is a high-risk for operational
readiness, but the wave of progress in electronics and material innovations in the past 10
years has speed-up parts obsolescence.

Old-style support choices are no longer effective in minimising the risk of obsolescence and
effect to the system’s cost and availability. It has become apparent that a more inclusive
approach is needed, where obsolescence management is performed from the planning to
retirement phase. During front-end planning, actions can be taken to anticipate
obsolescence issues and adjourn their onset in the life cycle of the system.

Refreshing the definition and objective of obsolescence management; a co-ordinated set of

actions and activities of an organization to grip/control the obsolescence menace is known
as Obsolescence Management. The objective of Obsolescence Management is to ensure
that obsolescence is managed throughout the distinct useful life of a product by integrating
an Obsolescence Management plan from as early as the product’s design and development
phase, continues through production and exploitation phase and till the product’s defined life
such that its financial and availability impact can be minimized throughout the product
lifecycle.

To minimize the impact of DMSMS, Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF) agencies must be able
to incorporate timely and cost-effective engineering practices during development,
production, and sustainment. To ensure the objective of least total ownership cost (TOC),
the concept of DMSMS management must be accepted at the highest programmatic levels
and contractually invoked during the system life cycle.

When planning for an Obsolescence Management, the MAF needs to decide whether to
outsource or to develop it in-house, both methods have their pros and cons and careful
consideration must be taken by the people responsible for such decision in order to choose
the implementation route that would best suit the MAF’s objective of addressing the
obsolescence issues.

Hence, adopting an active or proactive approach towards obsolescence management is of

course highly beneficial for any maintenance and reliability organization. The earlier
obsolescence is plan and predict in advance, the easier it will be to control risks.

In House Development

This is the process whereby MAF has to utilise their own workforces (in-house team) to
develop or implement an IT system that fits the specific needs of the organization. This
process allows for the creation of a more customized system that can have an exact fit in the
organization. This is because, there is direct contact between the software team and
the people that would be using the system and so they can tailor the system in a way that it
could incorporated some or most of the wishes of the users. This approach requires that the
organization possesses a group of or team of programmers, business analysts etc. that work
closely together within the organization with a common reporting line, which makes it easier
to coordinate between teams. The individuals in the team should be experienced in
developing and implementing IT system and have a thorough

understanding of the organization’s business processes

and once it is implemented, they should be able to maintain as well as improve the system
and adapt it to changing business requirements. This approach allows you to have complete
control over the functionality and gives you an in-depth knowledge of how the system works
and how they interface with the other business areas.
In order to ensure that obsolescence management is a key element considered within any
design, it is necessary to incorporate the concepts into the design of a product from its
earliest stages. In this way a pro-active approach, rather than a reactive approach is adopted
for obsolescence issues. In addition to this, it is becoming necessary in many areas of
industry where electronic products are being designed for a specific customer, that an
obsolescence management plan is required as part of the contract. (Obsolescence
Management Plan, electronicnotes)

4. How do you reconcile the needs of IT security with the OM needs for an
integrated transfer and storage of data between internal and external sources?

Sdffgfds

5. Present a convincing argument with advantages and disadvantages to your

Command as to why the cost of implementing an OM process will represent a Value
for Money solution both in terms of material reliability and operational capability.

It has become vital to embrace obsolescence management within planning activities from
the earliest life cycle phases. Realizing an obsolescence management could be
characterized as strategic obsolescence management when obsolescence management is
planned and implemented during the early life cycle phases (IEC, 2019).

Obsolescence mitigation is an increasingly important aspect of large systems development &

maintenance that has often only been considered once obsolescence is imminent. For long
lifecycle systems, this has become a major concern as the lifecycles of the components that
are encompassed within these systems are often far shorter - up to ten times shorter - than
the overall system lifecycle. Many defense systems can be characterized in this manner and
therefore require obsolescence mitigation approaches to ensure the continuing ability for the
system to perform and evolve. Current system-level obsolescence mitigation practices make
recommendations for designing new systems to slow the onset of obsolescence and make
the system more flexible when change for obsolescence.

Implement an Operational Management System (OMS)

An Operational Management System (OMS) is vital for reliability and obsolescence

management of a system during the support phase because it provides the visibility
structures of failure and repair effectiveness trends. Failure trends can be analysed and
where required be corrected by means of modifications or future block upgrades via the
formal engineering change proposal process (ECP). Halliday (B.R.Halliday, 1984) states
that; “at the centre of the reliability growth process is the identification of failure mechanisms
by testing, and their elimination through design and hardware modification actions”.
An OMS is an excellent support management tool that allows for effective closing of the
management loop to enable the identification and quantification of problem areas and
trends. This is very important for effective obsolescence management during the in-support
phase. The OMS must effectively identify, quantify and assess the trend as well as define
the effect of any fix that has been implemented (Rooney, 2015).

6. Brief your staff on the requirements of a new OM team justifying each position of
its rank, skill-set, branch specialisation and experience.

With the increased use of commercial parts in military systems it has become essential to
include obsolescence management within the programme plans from the earliest stages.
The management of obsolescence is essential to achieve optimum cost effectiveness
throughout the whole product life cycle. The importance of obsolescence management is to
provide contract requirements and guidance in planning a cost effective obsolescence
management process, which takes into account the essential factors to ensure that the
Product’s life cycle costs are considered and applied (Ministry of Defence UK, 2001).

First activities to plan should be the establishment and implementation of a work group or
teaming group and to structure or re-organize existing project teams to effectively address
and manage obsolescence problems applicable to their projects or environments.

Teaming groups normally have the benefit of a comprehensive database, wider engineering
and obsolescence case resolution experience, and more influence on component
manufacturer and supplier communities.

The purpose of obsolescence management planning is to provide guidance in planning a

cost-effective obsolescence management process that takes into account the essential
factors to ensure that the product life cycle costs are considered and applied. The first
activities to plan are the establishment and implementation of a workgroup or teaming group
and also to structure or re-organize existing project teams to effectively address and manage
obsolescence problems applicable to their projects or environments (Ministry of Defence,
UK, 2001).

Establish and implement a Component Obsolescence Teaming Group (COTG)

The Component Obsolescence Teaming Group (COTG) is a formalized group of

representatives from military programmes/projects and the related industries that work
together to share solutions and strategies to resolve common component obsolescence
problems. A COTG is an efficient, effective way to address component obsolescence issues.
Establish and implement the Project Team

The Project Team is normally the members of the project or programme as applicable to any
project/programme depending on the life cycle phase of the project/programme e.g.
development phase or stable support phase. A dedicated Project manager or Programme
manager will always head this team.

The Project Team will appoint a dedicated person to be responsible for managing or
coordinating of the related project obsolescence issues and to support the project or
programme during applicable resolution investigations and implementation there off.

The Project team will work together to support specific project or programme goals and will
also support activities to develop and implement solutions and strategies to resolve common
component obsolescence problems.

Develop an Obsolescence Management Plan (OMP)

At the earliest stages of a project the Project manager should produce an outline
Obsolescence Management plan (OMP). The plan should be subject to planned reviews and
updates and form part of or be specifically referenced in the Through Life Management Plan
(TLMP) or the Product Support Plan (PSP).

Obsolescence Management Organisation

The plan should be properly resourced to ensure that the activities detailed by the plan can
be undertaken and managed. The plan should include detail of the organisation and
individuals that will be/are responsible for the conduct of the activities listed by the plan.

The Obsolescence Team will dedicate effort to monitor specific ‘at risk’ items and provide
advice and guidance to the Operator on all matters concerning obsolescence concerns and
issues regarding the equipment.

a. Product Program Manager

i. Appointing an OM Manager or someone responsible for OM within the Product
b. Product Obsolescence Manager - Responsible for management of obsolescence
issues within a product.
i. Background / Experience: A technical/engineering work experience is fundamental
to ensuring an understanding of the requirements for design, manufacture and support.
c. Purchasing
i. Negotiating with tier suppliers to ensure the requirements for OM is flowed down
and defined within the terms and conditions included in the placement of purchase
orders.
d. Support
i. Liaison with the other functional units in reaching a resolution agreement that is
practical to support once a product has been delivered.