Cranfield University

Dr Francisco Javier Romero Rojo

Project Manager/Research Fellow
Location: Building 50, Cranfield campus
E: f.romerorojo@cranfield.ac.uk
T: +44 (0)1234 750111 x5264
Manufacturing and Materials

Current activities

Dr Francisco Javier Romero Rojo is a Research Fellow and Project Manager of the 'Obsolescence Management Improvement' (OMI) project sponsored by the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD). The aim of this project is to enhance the current obsolescence management processes in the MoD and extend those enhancements across the defence sector. The key objectives are:

• Development of Best Practice on Obsolescence Risk Assessment Process for inclusion on JSP 886 standards.
• Development of Obsolescence Management Framework in collaboration with DSTL.
• Development of tool for Obsolescence Management Capability Assessment (TOMCAT) and supervision of productionisation.
• Benchmarking Obsolescence Management with US Department of Defense.
• Development of KPIs to assess Obsolescence Management performance.
• Development of guidelines for incentivising obsolescence risk sharing in support contracts.
• Supervision of the productionisation of a tool for Obsolescence Cost Estimation.

This 2-year project is fully funded by the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) and involves collaboration with the MoD, DSTL, the Component Obsolescence Group (COG), the US DoD and the industrial members of the Joint Obsolescence Management Working Group of MoD.  

The OMI project builds on the previous work done by Francisco during his PhD research project, during which he developed a framework for the estimation of NRE costs of electronic, electrical and electromechanical (EEE) components and materials obsolescence that can be used at the bidding stage for support contracts in the defence sector.

Clients

• BAE Systems
• Rolls-Royce
• GE Aviation
• Lockheed Martin
• Thales Aerospace
• Selex Galileo
• Component Obsolescence Group (COG)
• Ministry of Defence      
• easyJet
• Cosworth

Funding bodies

• EPSRC
• IMRC (Cranfield University)

Background

Francisco J. Romero Rojo has completed his PhD dissertation at Cranfield University on Cost Modelling for Obsolescence, after three years working for the PSS-Cost project in collaboration with BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin, MoD, GE Aviation, Rolls-Royce, Selex Galileo, Thales Aerospace and COG. He obtained his five-year degree in Industrial Engineering (Ingeniero Superior Industrial), with specialisation in Industrial Organization (Organización Industrial), from the Technical University of Madrid (Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, UPM), Spain, in 2007. Subsequently, he obtained his MSc degree in Knowledge Management for Enterprise Development from Cranfield University, in 2008.
He is also member of the following associations:

• Association of Cost Engineers (ACostE) since May 2010
• Component Obsolescence Group (COG) since April 2008
• The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) since February 2010

He is currently a member of the COG Steering Group.
In 2010, he was the chairman of a track in the ISPA/SCEA Joint Annual Conference.

Selected publications

• PhD Thesis: Development of a Framework for Obsolescence Resolution Cost Estimation. Cranfield University, UK, March 2011.
• Romero Rojo, F.J., Roy, R., Shehab, E. 2009. Obsolescence management for long-life contracts: state of the art and future trends, International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology (IJAMT). vol. 49, no. 9-12, pp. 1235-1250. doi: 10.1007/s00170-009-2471-3.
• Romero Rojo, F.J., Roy, R., Shehab, E. and Wardle, P., 2009. Obsolescence Challenges for Product-Service Systems in Aerospace and defence Industry. The 1st CIRP Industrial Product-Service Systems (IPS2) Conference, 1st-2nd April 2009, Cranfield University, UK, pp 255-260.
• Romero Rojo, F.J., Roy, R., Shehab, E. and Cheruvu, K., 2010. Key Challenges in Managing Software Obsolescence for Industrial Product-Service Systems (IPS2). The 2nd CIRP Industrial Product-Service Systems (IPS2) Conference, Sweden.
• Romero Rojo, F.J., Roy, R., Shehab E., Cheruvu, K., 2010. A Cost Estimating Framework for Materials Obsolescence in Product-Service Systems, 2010 ISPA/SCEA Conference, San Diego, CA, USA, 8th - 11th June 2010.
• Romero Rojo, F.J., Roy, R., Shehab E., 2009. A Methodology for Variability Reduction in Manufacturing Cost Estimating in the Automotive Industry based on Design Features. Proceedings of the 19th CIRP Design Conference – Competitive Design, Cranfield University, UK, 30-31 March 2009, pp 197-202.
• Romero Rojo, F.J., Roy, R., Shehab E., Call M., Wardle, P., 2009. Hardware obsolescence cost drivers for product support. The 24th International Congress on Condition Monitoring and Diagnostics Engineering Management (COMADEM2011), Stavanger, Norway, 30th May 2011.
• Romero Rojo, F.J., Roy, R., Kelly S., 2011. A Comparative Study between Obsolescence Cost Metrics. Component Obsolescence Group (COG) International Conference 2011: The Economics of Obsolescence, York, UK, 28th-30th June 2011.
• Romero Rojo, F.J., Roy, R., Kelly S., 2011. TOMCAT: A Framework to Assess Obsolescence Management Capability. DMSMS Conference 2011, Hollywood, US, 29th Aug – 1st Sept 2011.
• MSc Thesis: Cost estimating process improvement within a manufacturing environment. Cranfield University, UK, Oct 2007.
• Roy, R., Datta, P., Romero Rojo, F.J., Erkoyuncu, J., 2009. Cost of Industrial Product-Service Systems (IPS2). 16th CIRP International Conference on Life Cycle Engineering, Cairo, Egypt.