Rob Picken
- Senior Vice President, Digital & Partnerships
- Sourceability, USA
Rob’s history with electronic component data services alongside franchised and non-franchised component distribution gives him a unique skill set to draw on that benefits customers and partners.
As a seasoned speaker at industry events across the USA, China, and Europe, his insights into component obsolescence, personnel and knowledge obsolescence, data strategies on resilience for procurement and engineering teams, open market strategy formation, and counterfeit component avoidance, Rob’s been trusted to offer solutions and advice to some of the world’s most demanding supply chains. Rob has spoken globally at aerospace, automotive, obsolescence, and data-focused events, driven to share ideas. Collaborating with key thinkers to develop resilience and strategy is core to his work as SVP of Digital & Partnerships at Sourceability.
Sessions
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Obsolescence management – Legacy Systems & Fleet Modernization
Addressing the Growing Challenges of Electronic Component Unavailability and Industry Knowledge Loss
Managing obsolescence in aerospace involves extending the life of 1st/2nd generation systems, often without full documentation or original engineers. Legacy avionics remain common, but retrofitting them to meet modern standards is complex and costly. Integration of new hardware/software with outdated architectures requires deep understanding of original design rationale. Key technical challenges include sourcing end-of-life components, mitigating the risk of counterfeit parts, and maintaining or refactoring legacy codebases. How do we retain engineers with domain expertise in legacy systems and manage compliance and safe system modernization.