As a systems engineer, you play a vital role in the success of any space mission. Without your guidance and oversight, the engineering is slower, more risky, and won’t reach the same level of performance.
Today there are plenty of tools on the market that can make managing the system of systems easier – but they all rely on one key thing:
High quality supply chain information.
Without accurate specifications and data on the products, services, and suppliers that you might include in your next mission, space systems engineering is a challenging discipline.
Systems engineering challenges that we can solve
There are a wide range of pressures and issues that you face on a daily basis which we can help with.
Think of satsearch as your secret weapon when it comes to dealing with the supply chain and finding the right options for your projects. Here are 6 key problem areas where we support systems engineers:
Inaccurate websites – supplier websites that aren’t kept up to date and instead feature:
- Outdated specifications, inaccurate product images or renders, and obsolete product details
- Missing information on new offers and services
- Incorrect contact and company details
Unavailable portfolio assets – important documents and files that aren’t openly online, or are behind logins or email signups, such as:
- Datasheets, CAD models and Interface Control Documents (ICDs)
- Thermal, radiation, and vacuum testing data
- Manuals, options sheets, and application notes
- Accurate images and video
Lack of procurement information – crucial product comparison and purchasing information that isn’t easily available, such as:
- Space heritage / Technology Readiness Level (TRL)
- Prices, lead times, contract details, and service and support agreements
- Customization or configuration options
- Export controls / ITAR status
Unwillingness to share – some space suppliers still have a culture of privacy, or even secrecy, due to:
- IP protection and confidential work (e.g. in defense or intelligence)
- Legacy / ‘old space’ processes and mindset
- Previous customers that are unwilling to publicize projects
- No sharing of failures – common across the industry
No response – unresponsive suppliers and distributors cause big issues in the industry, holding up entire projects simply due to reasons such as:
- Salespeople that are too busy and/or have poor processes in place
- A lack of interest in low volume orders and certain geographic markets
- Believing that early-stage, academic, or speculative projects aren’t a priority
- Being slow or reluctant to engage if there isn’t an existing relationship
These issues are particularly true of some larger suppliers who operate in both space and terrestrial markets.
Inconsistent marketing practices – there’s a lack of standardization in the marketing of space capabilities, which can slow down procurement and sourcing, for example
- Product specifications are shared in very different ways
- Services are not described in the same detail as products
- Early-stage R&D systems can be marketed as proven, readymade products
- It is difficult to compare alternative options from different companies
All of these problems are affecting your productivity.
You need an expert supply chain partner to help you solve them!
How we can help
The satsearch platform features thousands of supplier profiles, product and service pages, and freely downloadable assets, such as CAD models and datasheets.
We also have established relationships at hundreds of companies around the world, so we can get you the precise answers you need. And we can get them fast.
We’ve supported more than 400 mission teams and helped them source over 10,000 different categories of services, products and capabilities – right across the global supply chain.
We can source supplier information faster and more easily than individual systems engineers and mission teams because we have:
- An extensive database of supplier data
- Established vendor relationships around the world
- An experienced and dedicated supply chain team
- Tried and tested processes for all aspects of procurement
And we have one other major advantage; suppliers are simply more incentivized to share data with us – because we bring them business opportunities from around the world.
It’s time you shared this benefit.
How to get started
To enhance your systems engineering capacity today, simply use our open commercial tendering system to find the products or capabilities needed in your next mission.
It’s fast, simple, no-obligation, and 100% free to get started – just let us know higher level requirements and we’ll go to work for you.
Let’s turn your system design into a mission reality.
Ad astra!
