Intricate systems such as aircraft, ships or ground vehicles and equipment must always be mission-ready.
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The Aerospace and Defense industry is producing increasingly complex vehicles, systems and equipment. One of the biggest challenges in designing these products is assessing their associated logistics and maintenance support. Intricate systems such as aircraft, ships or ground vehicles and equipment must always be mission-ready to ensure operations are carried out effectively.
This approach is not only crucial for safety and reliability. It also optimizes costs by improving maintenance schedules, cutting parts, reducing inventory expenses and minimizing downtime for repairs. The goal is to keep availability at the forefront, shifting from a product-centric business model to one that is service centric. This approach still centers around the product, but emphasizes its maintainability.
Since integrated logistics support (ILS) involves a multitude of actors and activities, it requires clear and standardized communication with respect to integrated product support (IPS). Consider the S-Series specifications developed by the Aerospace & Defense Industries Association of Europe (ASD) and the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA). These IPS specifications were developed based on over five decades of accumulated experience and insights from major industries, following the growing interest in logistic support that began in the early 1970s. This interest led to the creation of the first standard, MIL-STD-1388-1, for logistic support analysis (LSA), by the U.S. Department of Defense in 1973. The objective of the S-Series specification is to facilitate communication between information systems and optimize the management of complex systems.
Logistic Support Analysis
LSA, as outlined in the ASD S3000L specification, plays one of the most critical roles in integrated logistics support by guiding product design improvements based on service needs and enhancing service operations through more effective planning.
LSA organizes, drives and records the process of support engineering, sometimes called integrated logistics support (ILS). It is an iterative activity, done throughout the product lifecycle, from conception to disposal. It is a structured replanning approach used to increase maintenance efficiency and reduce the cost of support.
In engineering, LSA relates to the concept of RAMS (reliability, availability, maintainability and safety) criteria. This is the process of evaluating a product or system as follows:
- Reliability: The product’s ability to perform its intended function, measured in terms of design and operational reliability.
- Availability: The product’s readiness for use in the intended environment.
- Maintainability: How quickly and easily the product can be kept in working order, including servicing, inspection, repair or modification.
- Safety: The product’s capacity to avoid causing harm to people, the environment or property throughout its lifecycle.
LSA has become a critical part of the aerospace and defense industry. It helps ensure mission readiness, safety, reliability, costs, compliance and strategic advantage.
LSA and service lifecycle management
LSA combined with service lifecycle management (SLM) can enhance traditional product lifecycle management (PLM) systems by integrating service-related information. A PLM system that includes engineering data is crucial for integrating service management with engineering and manufacturing. Adding LSA to a PLM system effectively extends its capabilities by incorporating bills of materials (BOMs) and related processes as defined by the ASD. An example of this implementation is the use of the PTC Windchill platform in the aerospace and defense industries. The PTC SLM solution, which uses the Arbortext suite of products, is particularly well-suited to meet LSA requirements.
Using PLM as the common platform and leveraging the information already in the system helps break the silos between engineering, manufacturing and service teams. This extends the digital thread throughout the product lifecycle. LSA users benefit from a wide range of features to manage all aspects of logistics support. This includes maintenance planning, parts management and supply chain management. With this solution, aerospace and defense companies improve their support level and service by influencing design and planning while reducing costs and increasing revenue.
Conclusion
Compliance with ASD standards provides a strategic advantage for companies designing complex and critical systems. It helps them meet the highest standard of support and provides them with a competitive edge in the field by extending equipment lifespan. These standards, which are open-source and globally available, are designed to be universally applicable. This means they don’t just benefit the aerospace & defense sector, but also maritime, subsurface, railway, construction, agriculture and any other field involving complex assets.
Importantly, servitization (selling hours of service instead of the product itself) is gaining more traction and is changing the maintenance paradigm. This new way of addressing the market demand requires higher efficiency in repair, overhaul and logistic support. This requires the supply chain to be anticipated and defined upfront as part of the product.
Closing the loop by incorporating the service dimension into the product design while supporting all aspects of maintenance, from training to planning, is a focus area for industrial companies in all domains. SLM as an extension of PLM is no longer considered as a separate initiative and the seamless integration between the different domains is supported by existing technology like PTC’s PLM platform and best practices such as the ASD’s S-Series specifications.
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