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Design for support and Since glasnost the militarily advanced nations of
support the design: the western world are all, without exception, on
reduced and reducing budgets, partly caused
integrated logistic by world recession and partly by lack of real
support – the business need for their services. This has caused them to
take a long, hard look at controlling costs, not
case just of procurement but of support – in other
words, cost of ownership. The Americans have
led in this management approach because they
Iain Galloway
have led the world in advanced systems
(advanced implying complex, less reliable,
requiring more maintenance, and therefore
more costly systems). On a fixed or diminishing
budget the balance between cost of expenditure
on performance and support is critical. There
The author
are parallels in this to civil systems, where the
Iain Galloway is Principal Consultant of Logistic Support customer may wish to know (or insist on know-
International, based in Yeovil, Somerset, UK. ing) cost of support or ownership; or the con-
tractor may wish to offer a system and its sup-
Abstract port as a selling point or expansion of business
The cost of supporting multi-million-pound military area. The British military is applying this man-
systems and equipment during the “in-service” phase is agement approach, known as integrated logistic
now often well in excess of two-thirds of the total cost of support or (ILS) to Eurofighter and the Com-
ownership. The management approach used to predict, mon New Generation Frigate, both interna-
budget, validate and control overall support costs is tional projects, as well as many others, such as
known as integrated logistic support (ILS). Explains the the Attack Helicopter and the Challenger II
military approach to “designing for support”, how this is Tank. This management approach is equally
integrated into the operational requirement and the applicable to civilian systems providing a com-
benefits which accrue. This leads to an analytical process prehensive, disciplined and structured method
known as logistic support analysis (LSA), which is integrat- of managing support.
ed into a dynamic “supportability database” known as the The overall aim of any new material system
logistic support analysis records (LSAR). This becomes the is to provide a needed capability at an afford-
definitive repository for information on all support activi- able cost. By “affordable” it is implied that
ties, including provisioning and technical documentation, this is best value for money in respect of both
and continues “live” in the in-service phase “supporting performance and life-cycle costs. It is also
the design”. Under a US Department of Defense initiative, implied that the project should be procured
using electronic data interchange (EDI), known as CALS – within budget, but once into service that cost
which was computer-aided acquisition and logistic becomes very difficult to control. As a rule of
support, and has now been redefined as “continuous thumb, two-thirds of the total cost of owner-
acquisition and life-cycle support” – the UK Ministry of ship of a military system is spent during this
Defence is currently fielding an Interim Defence Standard phase, which averages 25 years. The National
00-60, which it is promoting as a contender for a NATO Audit Office stated that £1 billion was spent
and ISO Standard on ILS. The final edition will be a stan- on unscheduled maintenance and repair
dard for contracting for ILS, provisioning, technical docu- during the 1989-1990 financial year. Addi-
mentation and CALS using EDI. tionally, the world is now entering what is
viewed as a prolonged period of peace without
a competitive arms race, the corollary being
that systems and equipment will remain in
service even longer. All indications are that
front-end decisions on design deeply affect
the cost of in-service support. In order to curb
the cost of support to that which provides
Logistics Information Management
Volume 9 · Number 1 · 1996 · pp. 24–31 optimum value for money, it is prudent to
© MCB University Press · ISSN 0957-6053 consider how to “design for support” at the
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Design for support and support the design Logistics Information Management
Iain Galloway Volume 9 · Number 1 · 1996 · 24–31
earliest possible opportunity, and then how ues throughout the acquisition and support
best to manage that support – “support the phases by relating support to design by using
design”! an analytical engineering approach. ILS is
Much has been written and said regarding defined by US DoD 5000.39 as: “A disci-
testing of both technology and development plined, unified and iterative approach to the
models in attempts to ensure that the required management and technical activities neces-
performance and reliability are obtained. sary to:
There is also great interest in life-cycle costing • integrate support considerations into
(LCC), and LCC models proliferate. Testing system and equipment design;
and modelling are major factors in controlling • develop support requirements that are
development budgets, and information thus related consistently to readiness objectives,
obtained is relevant to support as well as to design, and to each other;
acquisition costs, but they do not, in them- • acquire the required support; and
selves, address the management of total sup- • provide the required support during the
port. operational phase at minimum cost”.
Integrated logistic support (ILS) is a com-
prehensive and structured approach to the This may be translated as: “The management
management of total support. ILS is a disci- and technical processes, whereby full and
plined approach to designing for supportabili- informed consideration is given to total sup-
ty, by collecting, collating, storing, analysing port of a system, and its costs, so that these
and recording the necessary information and may be optimized at all stages of a dynamic
managing this information and effort to opti- programme”.
mize the resources required. A good ILS The aim, therefore, is to ensure that all
programme is also able to indicate feasible elements of support are justified, planned,
trade-offs in supportability (and sustainabili- acquired, tested and provided in a timely and
ty) which have credible values, and is thus of cost-effective manner. It is more than a
great value in estimating risk with respect to “cradle-to-grave” concept; it operates from
courses open for support. This is also the way “conception to organ utilization” – where
to more accurate life-cycle costing. Thus ILS credit may accrue by sale, adaptation or rede-
techniques have great impact on project ployment of the “remains”.
management during design, and product This may be done by “integrating” the
management in service. requirements for support along with those of
Like many management concepts, ILS performance at the earliest stages of design
began in the USA around 1970 when the (concept), and monitoring both at each stage
Department of Defense (DoD) was attempt- of development. This will allow risk to be
ing to control the cost of both acquisition and identified, assessed, and latterly allowed for in
support of ever more complex programmes. the design of both performance and support,
Unfortunately, the practice of ILS attracted while balanced against cost and time-scale.
more jargon than necessary, and this rendered
it almost unintelligible to a layman from Initial approach
outside the US DoD procurement system.
Notwithstanding this, the concept of ILS is The first approach to ILS for any requirement
sound and is being adapted to meet the of a new system is to develop readiness and
requirements and existing procurement and supportability objectives and then decide to
support systems of the UK Ministry of what extent and depth an analysis of the factors
Defence. It is equally applicable to civilian is necessary. Such an analysis, known as logistic
systems which have finite support support analysis (LSA), will be time consuming
requirements. and therefore costly, so it will require an invest-
ment appraisal. Initial factors are:
• system mission requirements, e.g. operational
The concept
concept and environment, service support
Integrated logistic support follows the con- concept, performance requirements,
cept of integrating the requirements for the threat, mission(s), measures of effective-
performance of a system with the optimiza- ness, manpower needs;
tion of its through-life support costs. This • deficiencies of current system, e.g. quantita-
commences at the concept stage and contin- tive and qualitative manpower require-
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Design for support and support the design Logistics Information Management
Iain Galloway Volume 9 · Number 1 · 1996 · 24–31
tracted out, with the skills and grades need- It is closely linked to performance objec-
ed to operate and support the system tives, and therefore to prediction and
throughout its projected life. testing of reliability. The planning, effect-
• Supply support. This encompasses all man- ing, reporting and analysis of tests are of
agement procedures and techniques used to paramount importance to ensure valida-
acquire, catalogue, receive, store, transfer, tion.
issue and dispose of all secondary items, (2) Design interfaces – the relationship of
including provisioning for initial support. logistics-connected design parameters,
• Support equipment. This is defined as all such as reliability and maintainability
equipment required to support the opera- (R&M) to quantifiable readiness objec-
tion of a system. It includes associated tives and support resource requirements
multi-use items, ground handling and must be examined and defined. This
maintenance equipment, tools, test and should be carried out as early in the devel-
ATE. It also includes the logistic support opment cycle as possible, e.g. design and
for this equipment. R&M engineers meeting regularly from
• Technical documentation. This includes all concept stage onwards to discuss MTBF
recorded information, regardless of form or and MART.
character, of an instructive or technical (3) Standardization and interoperability – it is
nature; for example manuals, drawings and necessary to scrutinize the system to
documentation to support both hardware component level, together with its sup-
and computer software. port and training equipment, to ensure
• Training and training support. This is the that standardization and interoperability
processes, procedures, techniques, training are balanced against minimum cost of
devices and equipment used to train acquisition and ownership. These aspects
employees and contractors to operate and breed commonality, which in turn height-
support the system. It includes: individual ens availability and lowers cost.
and group training; initial, formal and on-
the-job training; and the logistic support Failure analysis is carried out by two process-
necessary to sustain it. es known as failure mode effect and criticality
• Computer resource support. This is the facili- analysis (FMECA – US Mil Std 1629 A/B),
ties, hardware, software, manpower and which identifies corrective maintenance; and
skills needed to operate and support reliability-centred maintenance (RCM – US
embedded computer systems. Mil Std 1843/2173), which identifies preven-
• Facilities. These include the planning, tive maintenance. Both use a “feedback loop”
acquisition and management of permanent to design. The summation of these investiga-
or semi-permanent real-estate and property tions is a logistic support analysis (LSA – US
assets required to support the system. Mil Std 1388-1A/2B) leading to a list of sup-
• Packing, handling, support and transportation. port resources which can be optimized for
This is the resources, processes, proce- cost by carrying out a level of repair analysis
dures, design considerations and methods (LORA – US Mil Std 1390). The feedback to
of ensuring that the system and its support design of those items carrying high expendi-
items are preserved, packaged, handled and ture allows change to be made economically.
transported correctly. It includes environ- The information can also be used for predic-
mental considerations, and preservation tion and trade-off modelling (see the ILS
requirements for long- and short-term process diagram in Figure 1).
storage and worldwide transportation.
Logistic support analysis
Logistic support analysis (LSA) incorporates
Analysis processes
the analytical effort to influence the design of
The ensuing mass of data addresses three a system and to define support requirements
main subjects: and criteria. The internationally accepted
(1) Maintenance planning – the process con- standard has been US Mil-Std 1388-1A,
ducted to evolve and establish mainte- which consists of five task sections, 15 main
nance concepts and requirements for the tasks and 77 subtasks. It is mandatory to tailor
life time of the system, in peace and war. these tasks to the requirements of each
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Design for support and support the design Logistics Information Management
Iain Galloway Volume 9 · Number 1 · 1996 · 24–31
Logistic support Task Logistic support Task Logistic support Task Function block
analysis strategy 101 analysis plan Use study
102 analysis reviews 103 diagram
Task Task
continue 201
501
Evaluation Baseline
verification comparative system
design aims
Tasks
Tasks The complete feedback loop of logistic support analysis 203,205
402,403
Post production Evaluate design
support analysis standardization
technology
Tasks
202,204
Tasks Tasks
Complete design 301,401,501 Failure mode Configuration 302,303 Analyse design
LSAR database effects and task hardware block trade-offs sensitivity
analysis diagram comparative
in late 1994, the US DoD has withdrawn project calls for a major LSA programme then
support for many US military standards, the ILSM needs an LSA manager (LSAM).
including 1388-1A/2B for LSA. However, the The ILSM and LSAM are “core players”.
UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has been Other members of the ILS management team
pursuing not only a defence standard for LSA are likely to be drawn from the following
but also one incorporating ILS, provisioning areas:
and technical documentation, software sup- • reliability engineering;
port and electronic data interchange. To this • maintenance engineering;
end, Interim UK Defence Standard 00-60 was • life-cycle costing;
released in October 1994. It is being revised • parts provisioning;
and expanded not only to include the • packing, handling, storage and transport;
AECMA (European Aerospace) standards for • technical publications;
provisioning (AECMA specification 2000M) • training;
and technical documentation (AECMA speci- • manpower and personnel integration
fication 1000D), but also to absorb the tasks (Manprint);
and common data elements from US Mil Std • field support/contractor logistic support.
1388-1A/2B, converted to the “British” lan-
These are unlikely to be full-time appoint-
guage. The EDI standard to be used is UN
ments, but likely to be shared with other
EDI EDIFACT. The bulk of the review is due
projects on a “matrix” basis. When working to
to be published in the spring of 1996, with
the requirements of a customer, both cus-
some technical aspects following in the
tomer and contractor should field identical
autumn. The ultimate objective is to have an
teams so that management and communica-
international standard for support and DEF
tion work well on both vertical and lateral
STAN 00-60 is a strong contender. A NATO
planes.
pilot programme is already under way.
Perceived benefits
Management
There are many benefits perceived in follow-
The management organization ing an ILS strategy for procurement. Most,
Each ILS programme requires an ILS manag- however, are viewed as long term. This need
er (ILSM). He should be of a status commen- not be so; consider the following:
surate with the importance of the programme, • optimum system readiness at a designated,
ideally the “deputy PM for support”. If the and thus affordable, life-cycle cost; thus the
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Design for support and support the design Logistics Information Management
Iain Galloway Volume 9 · Number 1 · 1996 · 24–31
C C C C
O O O O
N N N N
T T T T
R R R R Concurrent Post-
Devise ILS A Technical A Initial design A FD studies A delivery of production
strategy C appraisal C and C C Production production support plan
and ILS and support implem-
T and initial T sub-system T design T design
S assessment S design S S systems ented
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Design for support and support the design Logistics Information Management
Iain Galloway Volume 9 · Number 1 · 1996 · 24–31
deliverables in digital format; text, graph- system – may prove more difficult to real-
ics, and data. This required the introduc- ize due to contractual problems.
tion of common standards, which, because
The UK Government is committed to the
of the nature of the world defence busi-
CALS initiative and this is being supported by
ness, have a need to be internationally
both UK MoD and Department of Trade and
accepted. This quest continues, but in the
Industry (DTI) in a move towards common
meantime many US DoD programmes are international standards for carrying out busi-
phasing in CALS successfully, with the ness, both military and civil, using electronic
ILS/LSAR database providing the core data interchange. The UK focus is the UK
data. CALS Industry Council, whose President is
(2) CALS phase II requires the introduction of Lord Chalfont, and whose annual conference,
shared databases, between the contractor, Advanced Procurement and Logistic Systems
his subcontractors and the customer (APLS) is held each spring in London, admin-
(DoD). This has raised many questions, as istered by Technology Appraisals Limited of
yet unanswered, regarding IPR, security, Twickenham. The Council members are senior
access to, ownership of and payment for industrialists from the leading trade associa-
data, to name but five. The consensus tions: SBAC, DMA, BNEA, EEA, CSA, ECIF,
appears to be that integrated weapon DISC and academia. The executive committee
system databases – expurgated as neces- has a number of groups interfacing with the
sary and composed primarily of ILS data MoD, DTI and international affairs, and deal-
elements – for one system under one prime ing with commercial information management,
contractor are a probable outcome. Wider business re-engineering/ concurrent engineer-
sharing of information under CITIS – ing, product design, product support, electron-
contractor integrated technical information ic data exchange and education.
On-line conferences in
General Management
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