Commercial Aviation
The Solution for the Commercial Aviation Industry
Since 1987, GDCA has offered the knowledge, services, and products you need to iron out your obsolescence issues and remain competitive. There is no other company with more experience or expertise in this area.
As technology has grown so has GDCA - developing as both a manufacturer and service provider. Our longevity affords us a unique understanding of the full impact of the legacy and obsolescence situation on our commercial aviation equipment customers.
The Challenge of Product End of Life Management
Commercial Aviation equipment manufacturers are facing some tough new challenges.
Because of intense competitive pressures and the resulting priority to control costs and capital investments, many airlines and airport operators must use their aging aircraft and equipment longer than originally anticipated. However, concerns about rising maintenance costs in an ever-changing and complicated aviation market and the increasing pace of technological change, have all conspired to create the resource draining issue of early part and component obsolescence.
Today, the electronics and subsystems used in the products that you design and integrate are largely produced for the COTS computer and consumer electronics industry. This means most current commercial and industrial designs have production lives of five years or less with limited operating temperature ranges which are unsuitable for your industry’s needs. This has left the industry largely scrambling to effectively manage unforeseen electronics obsolescence issues.
Obsolescence is a growing and significant problem for the commercial aviation industry. Once components are obsolete, the cost of replacement parts can be many times the cost of the original…if they can be purchased at all. This situation is compounded by the need to manage multiple interim configurations and mitigate application downtime.
Clearly, we can no longer assume the supply of electronic components is unlimited, nor can we presuppose that these component supplies will remain stable for long periods of time.
Increasingly, companies are caught off-guard by the problems that obsolescence creates. But when equipment costs millions of dollars and is intended to last decades, managing component and part obsolescence is essential to minimize unnecessary expenditure on maintenance.
This is only one of the reasons why the Commercial Aviation industry has continued to rely on GDCA year after year.
