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Engineering Support Transformation

The Defence Authority for Technical & Quality Assurance (DATQA) has produced a Vision Paper for Engineering Support Transformation.

Engineering Support Transformation (EST)

There is a need to transform the way that engineering aspects of support are provided, in order to deliver Joint Force 2025. This will be conducted as part of the Defence Support Network Transformation DSN(T) programme. The Defence Authority for Technical & Quality Assurance (DATQA) has produced a Vision Paper for Engineering Support Transformation, which sets out the linkage to DSN(T), a definition of Engineering Support, and identifies 4 key areas where transformation should lead to benefits. 

Scope & Definition of EST

Engineering Support is the activity that ensures performance and safety margins are known and managed by:

  • Ensuring the design of the equipment is influenced by the way it will be supported
  • Managing the way the design evolves through life to ensure the original design intent is preserved
  • Managing the material state of the equipment through maintenance, repair, replacement and control of components crucial to its performance
  • Evaluating, testing or monitoring performance of components, equipment, systems or platforms

Areas for Improvement

Design and Configuration Management - employ common open standards to capture platform information (“as-designed”, “as-built”, “asmaintained”) and structure the recorded information in a way that it can be easily accessed by the Technical Organisations and more widely across the DSN, including industry, where appropriate.

Maintenance Optimisation - exploitation of better maintenance scheduling and management, utilising where appropriate dynamic health and material state monitoring, fault reporting, trend analysis, testing and diagnostics or prediction.

Reset Technical Information Management - defining the rules and architecture for controlling, managing and transmitting technical information between support organisations (MOD and industry) and operational units.

Integrated Tools and Training - identifying new ways of exploiting information technologies to enable enhanced means of providing support activities e.g. maintenance, training, spares identification and ordering.

Future EST Roadmap

Achieving the EST Vision will require Defence to change:

  • In the short term, things will need to be done better
  • In the medium term, things will need to be done differently.
  • In the longer term, Defence may need to do different things.

Joint Force 2025 IOC probably sits on the cusp between “do things differently” and “do different things”. 

As part of the work on EST, a “Discovery” phase of activity is underway. This involves working with industry and other stakeholders to develop a defined programme, including ownership and funding, to deliver the long-term objectives. To that end, techUK members are invited to complete the questionnaire in this link and to read the full EST Vision Paper which is attached to this insight.

20180111-BRIEF PAPER- VISION FOR ENGINEERING SUPPORT... (DOCX)

 

Channel website: http://www.techuk.org/

Original article link: http://www.techuk.org/insights/news/item/14127-engineering-support-transformation

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