The Impact of Current Market Conditions on the Military and Aerospace Supply Chain
What are the long-term consequences and best practices to mitigate risk?
The extent of the capacity issues in the semiconductor market first became clear as the world started to emerge from the worst effects of the pandemic 15 months ago. The Automotive market with its just-in-time, minimal stock, high volume demands were an early indication of the problems to come.
Since that point, the supply chain disruption ripples have spread to all markets including the Military and Defense sectors.
Categorized by smaller (stop-start) batch production runs, with extended temp and special testing needs, component supply for the Defense market was always at greater risk of being “squeezed”.
In its simplest terms, as fab capacity disappeared, lead times extended. But other factors have also become apparent. As demand boomed for newer technologies/geometries, third-party fabs made the decision to announce the closure of the older fabs. In many cases, this impacted product lines which had been regarded as ring-fenced “Long-Term Secure” technologies.
As OCMs (Original Component Manufacturers) re-structured their production priorities with the capacity constraints they had, many have chosen to prune older product families, process technologies, and package styles.
Defense markets as they have some of the longest production and service lives. It is not uncommon
for the production runs and service lives to be extended multiple times beyond the original planned service withdrawal dates, making it virtually impossible to accurately predict future needs.
So, with both short and long-term component availability more uncertain than ever, how do companies minimize these risks without creating new ones?
In an uncertain world, best practices include:
- Dual Sourcing: While it is rarely possible to approve multiple manufacturers for the same device, dual sourcing of authorized supply chains is essential
- 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 who can then advise you when: extended lead-times, natural disasters/Acts-of-God, or market trends threaten your supply chains. Example: A natural disaster affects production at a Semiconductor plant » Know within 48 hrs. which components are affected » See instantly available stock to prevent a line-stop » Allow Suppliers to provide pro-active rather than reactive support.
- Track Component Lifecycles: Do not solely rely on the lifecycle algorithms used by many of the online component tracking databases. Seek the support of an Authorized End-of-Life Supplier/Manufacturer to provide a second opinion. Many components correctly listed on these databases as “Discontinued” by the OCM are in fact still in production from the Authorized End-of-Life sources, 10-20 years after their formal EOL.
Companies not only need to establish a sourcing partner that can offer guarantees of availability over the long term but can also demonstrate a controlled transition process through end-of-life and into long-term fully authorized supply – or even long-term production.
As an AS6496-compliant distributor and licensed manufacturer, Rochester Electronics continues to offer Military Grade semiconductors and packages long after the original OCMs discontinue them. In addition to the millions of components available in stock, 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.
Rochester also offers a wide range of commercial and industrial components and can supply a custom flow, built to meet the needs of source-controlled drawings.
Rochester’s 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.
Our built products are manufactured using known-good-die stored in one of its two nitrogen wafer storage facilities; and are tested to AS6496 standards using the original test processes employed by the OCM. Products retain their original part number because they are guaranteed to meet the original datasheet specification. As a 100% authorized source of supply, anti-counterfeiting standards that apply to independent suppliers such as AS6171 and AS6081 are NOT required.
For ongoing critical obsolete component needs, where Rochester does not hold available inventory or wafer to build, Rochester can leverage its vast Test and Design Engineering experience to keep our customers’ systems going.
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 the alternative.
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 which is 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 as a minor change.
Rochester Electronics offers the most comprehensive Stock – Build – Redesign service available for Military and Aerospace customers.
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Read White Paper: Avoiding DO-254 Events: Major/Minor Change Classification
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