Under pressure

Changing design strategies and the impact of the Ministry of Defence’s Support Solutions Envelope (SSE) are exerting conflicting pressures on designers in the defence sector, according to Tim Elliot, chairman of the Component Obsolescence Group UK. Whilst fixed tenders and the SSE programme are placing responsibility firmly on the OEM/CEM for long term product sustainability, Elliot believes designers are increasingly being driven to focus on short term goals. “Rather than the relatively stable design teams of years ago, today’s teams typically coalesce for a particular project and disperse to other tasks once that project is completed,” he noted. “The horizons for individual designers have shifted from a long term, project wide view, to the short term goals of the electrical and I/O parameters of the specific subassembly or black box.” Elliot believes this fragmented approach, means the defence industry is overlooking one of its most valuable assets for long term sustainability: the black box designer. “By removing the blinkers which focus attention on short term design objectives and encouraging long term questions such as proposed test procedures and operating environments, OEMs and CEMs can release their designers’ creative potential to deliver significantly more than a functional black box,” he continued. In Elliot’s opinion, OEMs/CEMs can ensure their designers develop real insight and innovation, as well as regaining long term ownership of their designs. “Responsibility for long term sustainability does not start with system integration: it starts with every designer taking the long term view and including planned responses to potential obsolescence as a fundamental building block of a successful black box design,” he concluded.