Counterfeit electronic parts have become a major concern, turning up frequently in the supply chains of U.S. defense contractors, military sustainment programs, and commercial manufacturers. Counterfeits can affect safety, operational readiness, and performance in the military, and have a wide range of effects on consumer health and safety as well as industry profit and loss.
Proven strategies to mitigate the threat of counterfeit parts—from the design stage through system sustainment—will be explored by ARINC Engineering Services, LLC on June 10 at the 2010 Symposium on Counterfeit Parts–West, in Phoenix, Arizona.
ARINC is offering a 4-hour workshop, Proactive DMSMS Management, including new material on counterfeit parts awareness. Led by Charles Marshall, ARINC Operations Manager, Life Cycle Support, the morning workshop will focus on a toolset of techniques and information sources to help managers resolve DMSMS (Diminished Manufacturing Sources & Material Shortages) issues before they become overwhelming.
“Counterfeit parts are among the biggest problems for today’s sustainment activities,” states Marshall, “and procurement activities must be aware of the risk when conducting life-of-type buys, residual asset purchases, and other buying solutions.” The workshop will include highlights of Marshall’s course “DMSMS for Executives,” and attendees will receive a copy of the DSPO SD-22 DMSMS Guidebook, with information on best practices and tools to help implement proactive DMSMS management programs. The workshop is sponsored by the Defense Standardization Program Office (DSPO) and the Defense Supply Center, Columbus DMSMS Office. According to Marshall, the DoD has gathered new information on how to recognize current counterfeit part problems, and is including awareness information in many of its training programs.
“It’s important for military and industry program managers to understand the risk of the counterfeit parts problem,” added Walter Tomczykowski, ARINC Director of Life Cycle Management. “These parts are dangerous because they look the same as genuine parts, and when stressed to normal limits they will likely fail in unexpected ways—assuming they work at all.”
ARINC offers combined DMSMS and reliability initiatives to help mitigate the risks of counterfeit parts. The June symposium represents both commercial and military interests and will allow program managers to share ideas advanced by industry associations, private companies, and several commercial anti-counterfeiting initiatives.
The Symposium on Avoiding, Detecting, and Preventing Counterfeit Electronic Parts is organized by the Surface Mount Technology Association (SMTA) in conjunction with the Center for Advanced Life Cycle Engineering (CALCE) at the University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA. Dates are June 8-11 at the Honeywell Deer Valley facility, Deer Valley (Phoenix), AZ. For event information, visit www.smta.org .