Building airplanes within the Aerospace and Defense (A&D) industry is already a complex configuration management task: Security concerns govern that any item in an airplane must be documented in depth, including:

  • Position in the airplane
  • Assembly instructions
  • Removal instructions
  • Use scenarios
  • Urgency scenarios

Not even the smallest frame for a picture goes undocumented. Material compliance adds to the complexity, as all the material compliance information must be aligned and connected to these singular items to avoid redundant information. DXC's Compliance Data Exchange (CDX) supports this effort by connecting product information to material content via its unique mechanism of collecting and mapping this information throughout the supply chain.

To add to the complexity, A&D is the end-consumer of a vast supply chain with expansive shares in end-consumer electronics and automotive. These two generate the majority of the supply chain revenue. This sets the stage for the challenge and the chance. The challenge is to convince the supply chain to disclose information to an industry that has only a small part of their share. The chance is to make use of the synergies and information that already exists.
 

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- Unique set of substances and materials composed thereof
- Support of reuse and simple versioning
- Simplified change processes
- Supports of communication between suppliers and customers by providing built-In workflows and means of communication
- Ease of use and competitive option to establish a standardized process in-house or within any given supply chain
- Simple-to-use integration interfaces
- Network of proven, professional and experienced partners allow for integration, outsourcing of tasks, and tailored consulting and training for you and your supply chain

- Shifts the operative risk of data maintenance and aggregation to DXC as service provider
- Implements relevant compliance schemes
- Allows to collect data for different scenarios within in one collection effort
- Avoids unnecessary repeated data entries.
- Multiply used parts are created once and referenced on need or sent to customers at different times. This includes used supplier parts. The customer always receives an aggregate of material data.

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Standards and Regulations

IPC-1754

The Materials and Substances Declaration for the Aerospace and Defense, and other Industries standard IPC-1754 is based on an xml-schema that can be used to report against defined declarable substance list (DSL) requirements. One such DSL making use of the IPC-1754 is the IAEG's AD-DSL, establishing a framework for reporting requirements in the Aerospace Defence and Space (ADS) industry. CDX fully supports import and export of that standard, allowing the CDX process to be included into industries' supply chain reporting efforts anytime, anyplace. CDX allows companies to compile multiple IPC1754 based reports into one, enrich with further reports from other sources or internal data and then pass on either internally, or by exporting to either IPC-1754 or other formats. DXC is both member of the IPC and the IAEG and supports in creating aforementioned standards and lists.

REACH

The European Union's Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) regulation regulates the use of all chemicals. They must be fully tested by industry and used in ways that are safe for both humans and the environment. Suspicious chemicals are restricted in use or sometimes removed from the market. In an airplane, every use of these restricted chemicals must be documented and associated with a corresponding entry in the EU's register.

Conflict Minerals

Conflict Minerals challenge US-based A&D airplane manufacturers. Under Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Act, all publicly traded companies are required to report annually to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding whether they use conflict minerals that are "necessary to the functionality or production" of a product that they either manufacture, or contract to be manufactured. Tin, tungsten, tantalum and gold (3TG) are used in many aerospace components with various applications. Additionally, many regional standards apply, such as the US Federal Standard 313A, non-disclosure requirements of the defense sector.