In general, defense sustainment and counterfeit avoidance has been left to DMSMS teams and logistics or engineering tactics.  However, so far the solution has primarily been to develop standards, authentication and anti-counterfeit technologies.  These responses have been critical, but have largely remained reactive and have not produced the dynamic collaboration crucial to maintaining a healthy, proactive supply chain.  Instead, each player is left facing inward — focusing on solutions from their own particular positions in the supply chain — but without the resources to truly be proactive.

Achieving long-term sustainment extends way beyond what Warfighter sustainment teams and suppliers can do alone and the defense supply chain now requires forward thinking collaboration.  The time is ripe for this crucial shift in counterfeit avoidance to occur and for collaboration to be realized as a practical, efficient solution. Everything from the tools to the standards is in place.

Bringing together all of the supply chain’s best thinking is a key factor of what it takes to support a systems whose lifecycle will last decades past the original components’ end-of-life.  At the ERAI 2013 Executive Conference, we are proud to be part of this discussion with Phil Zulueta, Donald Menzies, and Ethan Plotkin bringing their experience to a concrete round-table discussion; including examples of cross-supply chain collaboration.

Through conversations at conferences and events, new challenges, perspectives and ideas come up in discussion when it comes to how innovation, counterfeit avoidance, and proactive legacy management can come together.

The GDCA Team