Measures for Integrated Product Support (IPS) in Early Life Cycle of Aerospace and Defense Systems — Introduction of New IPS Measures with Reference to the ASD IPS Suite

Abstract

A trend to servitization and performance-based contracts in recent years has shifted downtime and other risks from customers to manufacturers. Thus, many manufacturers have intensified their search for methods on more precise predictions for In-Service Support (ISS) planning of a system. A methodology for preparation of ISS is Integrated Product Support (IPS). IPS, previously Integrated Logistics Support (ILS), is used in aerospace and defense since 1960s. The performance of IPS especially in the early life cycle phases concept, development, and production must be measured to achieve good performance in IPS and ISS and so in overall system availability in utilization phase. Established system measures used in IPS, e.g., reliability, maintainability, availability, affordability (or life cycle costing), etc. are good in utilization phase but have weaknesses in early life cycle phases. While this is known but poorly documented, it was found in an earlier paper that these weaknesses are significant and so are questioning the suitability for use in IPS. As a result, new IPS specific measures have been developed which are quantifiable and tangible with the intention to remove known weaknesses in early life cycle phases. This paper presents the new IPS measures with reference to the ASD IPS Suite and discusses their applicability in IPS.