Abstract: Control plans are not new in the AEH (Airborne Electronic Hardware) industry. Since the early days of AS9100 there have been different procedures that are called control plans that deal with different subjects. Although more common in the quality field, control plans are also widely used in engineering. They are used in a variety of subjects related to electronic component management such as Pb-free management, counterfeit avoidance and obsolescence management, for instance, which were backed by FAA in 2017 with the release of DOT/FAA/TC-16/57 report. The necessity of such control plans was no news for major OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) that usually have teams of component, manufacturing and materials engineers that deal with these issues since long before 2017. However, some of medium to small OEMs struggle to overcome challenges not only to create their control plans, but to implement and act as planned. Many of which seek compliance to internationally recognized standards and requirements, which they don’t really understand, but are necessary for requirements compliance and customers’ satisfaction. And when it is time to act, they realize their knowledge limitations, lack of specialized engineers, and absence of proper options to solve issues that were supposed to be monitored and controlled by their control plans. The current global component shortage revealed how some companies are unprepared to act according to their obsolescence and counterfeit control plans, and this can create a wave of undelivered products, production line stops, and/or counterfeit parts being applied. This work presents common problems that some medium to small OEMs are encountering to comply with their electronic component control plans.

Bio: Andre Oliveira (Master of Science, Technological Institute of Aeronautics) participated in Embraer's Engineering Specialization Program in 2011. He worked for the company as an Equipment Engineer, where he was responsible for creating, establishing and improving processes to increase company's avionics reliability, which included electronic component mangement plans. He also was responsible to review control plans from avionics suppliers, working with more than 100 different OEMs to improve their component engineering processes. After that he worked in multiple OEMs implementing component management processes according to international standards. Now he works as a Technical Advisor for Techlity, passing on many years of knowledge to companies who wish to improve the way they select and manage parts.