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INTRODUCTION

Diminishing Manufacturing Sources and Material Shortages (DMSMS), the loss of sources of items or material, surfaces when a source announces the actual or impending discontinuation of a product, or when procurements fail because of product unavailability. DMSMS may endanger the life-cycle support and viability of the weapon system or equipment.

Compared with the commercial electronics sector, the Department of Defense (DoD) is a minor consumer of electrical and electronic devices. While the electronic device industry abandons low-demand, older technology products, the DoD seeks to prolong the life of weapon systems. These conflicting trends cause DMSMS problems as repair parts and/or materials disappear before the end of weapon system life cycle. Although electronics are most likely to be discontinued, obsolescence of non-electronic and commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) items also poses a significant problem to weapon systems. In short, DMSMS is a threat to system supportability.

Solving DMSMS is complex, data intensive, and expensive. You, the program manager (PM), have only two approaches to solving DMSMS in a system: reactive (you address DMSMS problems after they surface) and proactive (you identify and take steps to mitigate impending DMSMS problems). DoD policy prescribes the proactive approach.

An effective proactive DMSMS program does the following:

• Ensures that all parts and material to produce or repair the system or equipment are available

• Reduces, or controls, total ownership cost (TOC)

• Minimizes total life-cycle systems management (TLCSM) cost

• Eliminates, or at least minimizes, reactive DMSMS actions

• Evaluates design alternatives

• Provides for risk mitigation as it applies to DMSMS

• Evaluates more than one approach to resolve DMSMS issues

• Collects metrics to monitor program effectiveness.

To achieve an effective DMSMS program, you should consider adopting the common practices and tools described in this guidebook. These practices and tools were drawn from various DoD organizations that have successful DMSMS programs. This guidebook is not limited to any particular type or class of manufacturing sources or material shortages.

The purpose of this guidebook is fourfold

• Define a proactive DMSMS management process that a PM can use to build an effective DMSMS program

• Define DMSMS support metrics to measure the effectiveness of a proactive DMSMS program

• Promote cost-effective supply chain management integrity through DMSMS problem solution at the lowest (cost, time, functional) level

• Promote the exercise of best practices throughout the DMSMS management cycle.