4.3.18.21. Standardization
4.3.18.21. Standardization
Standardization supports the achievement of commonality and interoperability of parts and processes with United States forces and our allies, promote safety, provide for life-cycle sustainment, and allow for rapid, cost-effective technology insertion through use of standard interfaces and open systems. Standardization is an enabling tool to provide the warfighter with systems and equipment that are interoperable, reliable, sustainable and affordable. Standardization plays a key role in defining systems engineering (SE) best practices and processes.
The Program Manager balances the decision to use standardized agreements, practices, products, parts, processes, interfaces, and methods with required capabilities, operational environment, technology feasibility and growth, and cost-effectiveness.
DoD 4120.24-M, Chapter 3, Standardization in the Acquisition Process, provides policies on when to standardize, how to document standardization decisions, and a discussion of the tailoring of standardization documents through rewriting, extracting, or eliminating requirements.
Parts management is a standardization design strategy available to Program Managers. Benefits of parts standardization include:
- Reducing the number of unique or specialized parts used in a system (or across systems)
- Reducing the logistics footprint
- Lowering life-cycle costs
In addition, parts management can enhance the reliability of the system and mitigate part obsolescence due to Diminishing Manufacturing Sources and Material Shortages (DMSMS). MIL-STD-3018, Parts Management, dictates that program offices should apply standardization processes to:
- Improve parts commonality
- Reduce total ownership costs
- Reduce proliferation of parts
- Promote the use of parts with acceptable performance, quality, and reliability
The Systems Engineer is responsible for:
- Implementing parts management contractual requirements
- Approving contractor submitted plans
- Ensuring parts management objectives are met
Additional guidance on parts management may be found in SD-19, Parts Management Guide.
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