A HOLISTIC APPROACH TO SUPPORT

This paper encourages a more holistic approach to support that views 1) Product Support 2) Customer Support and 3) Infrastructure Support as separate requirements. Each of these requirements must be understood in its uniqueness in order to have the appropriate strategies applied, yet all three are interdependent and must be coordinated carefully, using a holistic approach to meeting a customer’s real needs if a manufacturer’s support strategies are to be truly effective. A successful holistic approach to support may be described as occurring when 1) it is the object of the support effort that drives strategy rather than adherence to established support concepts, 2) the object’s (customer's) true support needs are anticipated and made paramount in the design philosophy, 3) these concepts are incorporated in the design through a true concurrent engineering process that has matured into concurrent product definition, 4) it is structured by combining the best mix of methodologies selected from both military and commercial logistics support, and 5) applied with the concept of the customer as a partner in the industry of applying helicopter technology.