Strategic Resilience for Through-life Engineering Services

This is an introductory paper seeking to understand how valued resile properties can be incorporated into the super system that is Through-life Engineering Services (TES). It draws on multi-disciplinary Systems Engineering thinking and principles to construct a TES-Landscape comprising 6 generic TES activity systems, to bound a TES Capability and to identify potential vulnerabilities therein. Concepts of risk and resilience are considered in the context of a generic TES Capability System (TESS). TESS faces high levels of unpredictable risk and developments to facilitate resilience are desirable. TESS resilience depends on shared communication and situational awareness especially during resilience phase 2 (survival during disruption). To achieve this, prior structures and knowledge are essential. Core system components of TESS are aligned in a Fit-for-Purpose/ Sustainability/ Resilience Matrix, which is developed into an initial constructivist TESS Resilience framework (TESSR). The novel approach presented here suggests that resilience in TESS is not a property that can be designed in ab initio. Rather conditions must be created to let it emerge. Future research and developments on how to do this are proposed.