Aligning with the Sourcing Requirements of the Military and Aerospace Industries
The most comprehensive Stock – Build – Redesign service available
The Military and Aerospace industry has long had a close connection to the semiconductor industry. Many of the industries’ programs of 60 years ago helped drive early semiconductor development.
Over the decades, both industries experienced tremendous advancements. However, over the last several decades, the requirements and objectives of these industries have diverged.
Today, top semiconductor manufacturers are driven by high volumes, higher performance, lower power requirements, smaller plastic packages, and cheaper costs. Expected product lifecycles can be as short as 1 year, or long as 5 to 10 years. The industry can certainly benefit from the technological advancements, but semiconductor lifecycles do not align to the requirements of most programs.
Supply chain management is facing greater challenges than ever before. Military and aerospace systems require a longer development time and can have a longer product lifecycle than any other industry. The supply chain is faced with component obsolescence in aging systems, prioritizing the funding for long-term procurement and maintenance, coordination on the timing of and transition to newer systems, and 2-year budget cycles.
Consequently, supply chain management must be treated as a critical and integral part of any program.
The industry is at a transition point where it must consider the benefits of out-sourcing and COTS (commercial-off-the-shelf) products versus organic development and controlled solutions. Designing with multi-sourced solutions and selecting the right partnerships are key parts of the decision process as well. The correct balance between these competing options will vary depending upon the product and program but as seen in recent years, there are distinct benefits to maintaining control (particularly domestic control).
From the perspective of the semiconductor components, the best practices in supply chain management include:
- Dual Sourcing: When possible, procure at the device level or from dual authorized supply chain sources.
- Stock in the Market: Ensure up-to-date visibility of all instantly available stock if supplies fail.
- Advanced Warning System: Share critical parts lists with trusted suppliers and partners, who can advise on extended lead times or other market issues that threaten the supply chains.
- Track Component Lifecycles: Do not solely rely on the algorithms-based lifecycle tracking. Seek support and confirmation from authorized end-of-life suppliers and partners. For example, components correctly listed “Discontinued” by the OCM may in fact still be in production from the authorized end-of-life sources, 10-20 years after their formal EOL.
- Program Protection Plan: While PPPs are strongly suggested for MIL programs, they need to be implemented to be effective. Partnering with an authorized aftermarket manufacturer should be part of the PPP.
Rochester Electronics has always aligned well with the sourcing requirements of the Military and Aerospace industry. As an AS6496-compliant distributor and licensed manufacturer, Rochester Electronics offers Military-Grade semiconductor and package solutions, even after the original OCMs have discontinued them.
Rochester stocks millions of military-grade components in our daily inventory, comprising of thousands of distinct part numbers. In addition, Rochester’s in-house high-reliability hermetic assembly line offers a full complement of package styles including Ceramic DIP, Side Brazed DIP, Flat Pack, CQFP, PGA, Ceramic Leadless Chip Carrier, and Metal Can. This variety allows for the continued manufacture of previously obsolete components, all manufactured in partnership with the original OCM to provide a 100% authorized and guaranteed solution.
Providing further support, Rochester can supply a custom flow, built to match the needs of source-controlled drawings based on our commercial and industrial inventory. Our extensive in-house qualification and test facilities ensure complete risk-free sourcing of components in compliance with industry standards. Rochester is a QML manufacturer certified by DLA Land and Maritime to MIL-PRF-38535, offering Class Q and Class V microcircuits for Military and Aerospace applications.
Customers can also leverage Rochester’s vast Test and Design Engineering experience to keep systems running. Rochester can help with suitable alternatives (grades, speeds, finishes, packages) and the creation of additional testing parameters to provide the customer evidence needed to qualify these alternate solutions.
We can also support fundamental design changes, such as the replacement of obsolete key components with ASIC solutions. The possibility exists in these cases to transition to an ASIC not only identical in terms of fit-form-function, but with no software changes required and no errata. This means that Aerospace DO-254 re-qualifications, even for safety-critical (DAL-A) applications, can be greatly simplified with minor changes.
Rochester Electronics offers the most comprehensive Stock – Build – Redesign services available for Military and Aerospace customers.
Learn more about our military and aerospace solutions
Our licensed manufacturing solutions
Read White Paper: Avoiding DO-254 Events: Major/Minor Change Classification
Manufacturers
