In constant search of the optimum
Systecon's President Robert Hell writes about the increased interest in lifecycle management around the world.
In previous columns I have written about the growing interest in Life Cycle Management and, in particular, the analytical approach that we offer through Opus Suite. My understanding is that this trend is continuing and deepening.
New questions require methodological and professional development
In our consulting projects, we are often entrusted to interpret and understand our clients' issues and transfer them to analytical methods and models. In doing so, we can help policy makers effectively understand what the consequences of different choices will be. In most cases, Opus Suite is well adapted to answer the customer's questions, but in some cases new methods development is required. And in some cases, these methods’ developments result in new customer- or project-specific tools. The issues we believe are the essence of Life Cycle Management are the ability to analyze and evaluate options and understand what choices are most effective. This applies regardless of whether you're working with early conceptual design, procurement projects or designing effective support solutions. The breadth of the questions that need to be analyzed puts new demands on the methods and models used.
To meet the growing interest in LCM we offer services that both help our customers in their individual projects and in developing their own working methods and capabilities in the area. As part of this we are launching in the fall a new Executive Life Cycle Management education based on the methodology developed and experience gained from different projects. This includes, among other things, the work we carried out for the Royal Thai Air Force that Patrik Alfredsson describes in this article. If you want to do the equivalent of an LCM lift in your organization a first step may be to sign up for the new LCM Program, but you are of course welcome to contact us if you would like us to tailor a development package customized according to your needs.
Interest in Life Cycle Management increases
BAAINBw (Bundesamt für Informationstechnik und Ausrüstung, Nutzung der Bundeswehr), is the entity within the German defense organization that has responsibility for procurement, operation and maintenance of defense equipment. On their website, they describe their mission as ensuring that “Bundeswehr demand is met by supplying state-of-the-art technology and modern equipment at economic conditions.” They have many interesting ideas about how the Life Cycle Cost methodology should be developed and applied throughout the entire life cycle. Just before Christmas last year, they chose to start using Opus Suite for LCC analyses. That OPUS10 and CATLOC play a central role in this development is something about which we are proud and we look forward to following with interest.
Shortly after BAAINBw decided to go with Opus Suite we also received the equivalent positive response from Switzerland. This came from the defense industry in the form of RUAG Aviation, which received an assignment from Armasuisse, the Swiss Air Force and Swiss Armed Forces Logistics Organization, to obtain and use OPUS10 for logistics optimization in the F/A-18 program.
In addition, our nearest neighbors, Denmark and Norway, continue their efforts to strengthen their ability to systematically and analytically work with LCM, and we have recently signed multi-year support and framework agreements with both the FMI in Denmark and the newly formed unit Forsvarsmateriell in Norway.
Australia, despite its distance from Sweden, is one of the markets where the Opus Suite is the most established and used. The tools are actively used in virtually every major technology program of the Defence Materiel Organisation (DMO), as well as the Australian defense industry. Together with our representative Thales Australia, we recently arranged our bi-annual Australian User Group. This year, there were about 40 participants and DMO communicated that they intend to increase and broaden the use of Opus Suite even further.
Another big step for us is that we are just opening Systecon Korea together with our South Korean representative Moasoft Corporation. This is one way for us to increase the cooperation with Moasoft and, at the same time, create a more efficient way to support our South Korean customers in a market with clear and growing interest in LCM.
Opus Suite version 2016
In our latest newsletter, we focus also on the release of our new version of Opus Suite 2016. It's a great feeling when something you worked hard on for a full year is "completed" and you get the opportunity to show off the latest developments for an expectant crowd of users. Faster, more flexible and better integrated is what we hope to offer this time as described by our development manager Tomas Eriksson in this article.
Scandinavian Opus Suite seminar 2016
Finally, this year's Scandinavian Opus Suite seminar was held on April 14 at Stockholm Waterfront Congress Center. The theme was "Increased operational performance with control of total ownership cost." Under this ambitious concept, we wanted to contribute with new perspectives and inspiration to our customers on how to trim their operations and improve their systems even more. As expressed in our slogan: we are "in search of the optimum.
Robert Hell
President, Systecon