Obsolescence Management in the Aerospace Industry of Developing Nations
Résumé
Obsolescence management in the aerospace industry of developing nations is subjected to economic, geopolitical and systemic factors that inhibit the effectiveness of the implementation of reactive obsolescence management models. Due to financial constraints, the adoption of new technologies by these economies is generally impeded, hence the tendency to go for older versions of the equipment or services. This leads to the complexity of managing products whose components and subcomponents are already towards the decline stage of their life cycle.
In this presentation, we will analyze the problems encountered in the development of obsolescence management models in the aerospace industry of developing economies where equipment and services are past the maturity stage of their life cycle before they are acquired and installed for use. Among various reactive obsolescence management techniques, reclamation and overstock have been found to be ineffective due to the high inventory cost caused by poor storage and handling techniques, unreliable energy systems and lack of continuous technology transfer. The bureaucratic bottleneck caused by the presence of multiple contractors or middlemen between the equipment manufacturers and the end-users inhibits the efficiency of the supply chain used for the implementation of the ‘Last Buy Order’.
Moreover, these supply chains are not efficient enough for transmission and reception of ‘Product Discontinuation Notification’. This also affects the obsolescence management strategies.
Standards and certifications requirements in most of the equipment also affect the use of substitute components from contract manufacturers as spares. The development of strategic obsolescence management models will ensure that they take into consideration these limiting factors.
This problem is of importance to the IIOM community because it provides an insight to the problem of the aerospace industry in developing economies. The use of “traditional” models such as SD-22:2022 for reactive obsolescence management models are not effective due to challenges peculiar to these regions.
These are the main motivations of the research activities that we are launching in a PhD study, seeking for adapted or new obsolescence remediation techniques taking into account these complexities. This will benefit not just the aerospace industry but others with similar challenges.