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Takeaways from the Symposium on Counterfeit Electronic Parts (Part 2)

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Last week I attended the Symposium on Counterfeit Electronics Parts.  The defense industry has awakened to the very serious problem of counterfeiting.  And although there are great efforts underway to coordinate information amongst the participants in the electronics supply chain, there are still significant obstacles to overcome.

The most fundamental of those are the differences between the life cycles of the weapons systems being built and the life cycles of the underlying electronic components.  Weapons systems designed to last decades are incompatible with the pace of technological change in the electronics market.  Unfortunately, there does not seem to be an easy answer for this.  Prime contractors are expected to build obsolescence planning into their budgeting process, but that will not be an easy task and will be very time consuming.

On the positive side of things, it appears that the industry is embracing all of the channel partners and understanding the value brought to the supply chain by all of the players as well as encouraging communication amongst the various stakeholders.  Obsolescence issues are very pervasive in the defense market, so it is imperative that the market participants exert as much diligence as possible to insure that counterfeiting is combated at every opportunity.