Understanding Future Effects of Today's Decisions

Specialty Engineering


WILLCOR provides specialty engineering services for government and industry clients designed to result in positive acquisition outcomes. We can assist at any stage in the acquisition cycle from initial technology to full rate production and sustainment. Ideally, we are involved early in the acquisition timeline where small improvements yield big results and confer maximum decision space to the program manager.

Specialty engineering disciplines often overlap and impact each other; accordingly WILLCOR works within this domain to optimize multiple variables. 

Reliability: A key factor in system suitability that also impacts Operations and Sustainment (O&S) costs, reliability must be considered from program inception. The notion that ‘reliability can be fixed later’ is inaccurate, making changes after the design is frozen costs 100x more than if the changes were made earlier. WILLCOR provides comprehensive support to programs including development of design-by-reliability requirements for the program, analysis of test or field data, development of reliability block diagrams, Failure Modes Effects and Criticality Analysis (FMECA), and development of contractually responsive yet actionable recommendations to effect change.

Availability: Availability is a crucial measure used by operators to understand if a system (once fielded) is ready at any given time for mission taskings, it is a combination of inherent reliability, logistics support, and maintainability. It must also be considered early in the design process, otherwise the user community must invest heavily in spares and field support. Maintainability features can’t be retrofitted once the design is frozen or the system is fielded. WILLCOR can help you specify design criteria to your contractor team, identify reliability shortfalls, specify where to invest to make improvements, and recommend sparing approaches to minimize cost.

Maintainability: Maintainability is an integral part of availability, if a system is maintenance-intensive then it will cost more to operate than a comparable (but better designed) system. Also, it is difficult if not impossible to add maintainability features once a system is designed … the inclusion of doors and access panels after a design is qualified is equivalent to starting over from scratch. WILLCOR can help clients work with the user community to develop, document, and promulgate practical and responsive requirements that empower a contractor team to design an excellent product from the outset.

Manufacturability and Producibility: If a design cannot be manufactured in a repeatable and cost effective manner, the customer usually gets an unsuitable product and the contractor loses competitive advantage. Through the use of our innovative Systems Engineering Model (SEM), extensive industry knowledge garnered from hundreds of factory visits, insight into best practices, and our SMEs, WILLCOR can help you understand the risks associated with your design and contractor team. We develop contractually responsive and actionable recommendations that you can immediately implement to effect change.

Process Improvement: Risks result from deviation from customer standards or recognized industry best practices; in some instances risks can be accepted and in other instances risks must be mitigated. In many cases risk can arise from institutionalized processes within the contractor team that can be readily identified by an independent 3rd party. WILLCOR is this 3rd party, and also possesses significant experience in business process assessment resulting from hundreds of factory site visits and best practices surveys. We can help your staff identify inefficiencies and waste that create risk and contribute to cost and schedule growth.