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several key questions are worth
considering:
•
How long has the OEM been in
business?
o What’s the likelihood they’ll be around
20 years from now?
•
How well do they listen to your
needs?
o Do they respond with suggestions that
make sense from a technical perspective?
o Do their suggestions make sense from
a business perspective?
•
Can the OEM support your program
over the long term by supplying
needed system components?
o Do they offer cost-effective assurance
plans and maintenance services?
o Do they have a service infrastructure
designed for present and future needs?
•
What is the real cost of doing
business with the supplier-now and
through the life of the test system?
o What is the duration of its standard
warranty?
The greater the number of favorable
answers, the greater the likelihood
a vendor will be able to ensure that a
system will operate at peak performance
well into the future.
During production and
while replacements are still
available (SSP)
As long as an instrument is in production,
the OEM’s support capabilities are
relatively high. This is a good time to
adopt best practices such as utilizing
high-quality services and developing
contingency plans for the post-
manufacturing phase.
Solid contingency planning starts with a
key assumption: OEM support capabilities
will diminish with time. It’s best to work
directly with the OEM to determine long-
term plans and needs. For example,
it’s wise to regularly monitor product
lifecycles and assess the value of making
lifetime buys of all crucial components.
The OEM should be willing to help
ensure a sufficient inventory of parts or
assemblies to avoid critical failures.
This is also the best time to identify
critical instruments and purchase an
optimum number of spares based
on statistical data such as the mean
time between failures. Creating and
maintaining intra- and inter-company
asset lists may reveal available spares
and also prevent unnecessary scrapping
of still-needed instruments.
After products are no longer
manufactured (ESP)
Eventually, an organization will have to
deal with the support and maintenance
of instruments that are out of production.
At that point, three options are available:
OEM services, third-party services and
self-maintenance.
While the best choice depends on the
business and technical specifics of the
situation, the OEM will usually provide
higher quality service than a third-party
provider or in-house self-maintenance
staff. One reason: providing excellent
service ensures customer satisfaction
and, being pragmatic, helps protect the
company’s reputation. Also, because
they are aware of need for longer-term
support, some OEMs have planned for
this on a product-by-product basis. This
requires an investment in the necessary
infrastructure: staff, equipment, test
systems and supply chain of genuine
OEM parts.
Another option is to purchase second-
hand equipment to use as replacements
for failed instruments. This can be
useful if the following items are true
about the used equipment:
• Any necessary repairs have
been performed by factory-trained
technicians
• When needed, only genuine OEM
parts were used
• After any repairs, the instrument
received a full calibration and all
necessary adjustments
Similar to the suggestions offered
earlier, we recommend purchasing
used equipment that has been fully
refurbished by the OEM.
Conclusion
As our customers assess service
alternatives, they can be confident
in Keysight’s ability to ensure their
operational continuity. We know that it
takes time to find the right equipment
and a trusted solution partner. Once
a test system is up and running,
the responsible organization needs
confidence that it will keep going.
That’s why we’re offering Instrument
Lifecycle Solutions, including our
Extended Service Period solutions.
Figure 4. As the older product declines, the
newer one grows, requiring new investments
in manufacturing lines, parts and warehouse
space
Figure 5. The other timing problem is the
offset between the decline of commercial
products and the growth and long decline of
an aerospace/defense system
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