Innovations in military spares analysis

The US Defense Secretary hopes to reap savings in the order of $30 billion with procurement reform. He admits that one of his toughest challenges will be to nurture and sustain America's technological edge, which he sees as a necessity in a period of declining force levels, during a time of declining budgets. With these thoughts in mind Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) took the initiative to pursue alternative cost effective methods to raise spare parts utilization. SAIC's approach is to include repaired printed wiring assemblies (PWAs) in lieu of purchasing additional spare PWAs in the spares analysis calculation. This also negates the additional costs of inventory and storage of the logistically required spare PWAs.