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It is important to identify possible ways to react if obsolescence occurs, starting at a simple part substitution up to a major redesign of a product.

A comprehensive obsolescence management includes management of contracts. Suitable obsolescence management clauses on both sides of the supply chain with suppliers and customers are needed. Here is an example clause according to the “SD-22 - Diminishing Manufacturing Sources and Material Shortages (DMSMS) Guidebook,” published by the Defense Standardization Program Office (DSPO):

The professional long-term conservation of electronic components offers a low-cost and, in some cases, the only alternative to a redesign.

We all know the problem of parts becoming unprocurable and obsolete. It's omnipresent in our community. Easy to be observed for example by taking a look at sound carriers. From the 1900's on, the vinyl revolutionized the market, while being replaced by tapes later. When the CD was invented the tape became obsolete and in these days almost all music is saved as MP3 files on hard or flash drives. This change came slowly over many years.

The VDI (Association of German Engineers) - corporation Production and Logistics - has founded a new expert committee "Obsolescence Management" (FA209) within their department Factory Planning and Operation (FB2). The constitutive meeting took place at the VDI location in Duesseldorf on the 22. August 2012.

Participate in our survey!  https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/obsolescence_survey                                                                     It seems to be everywhere. It is like machinations of a huge industry lobbying a premature end-of-life for essential components of systems. In addition, it is forcing customers and other industries to pay for it. Is it rather a mighty myth than a whole sector conspiring against poor customers?

Invitation to an „FED - Fachverband für Design, Leiterplatten- und Baugruppenfertigung“ lecture in German on Friday, 21th September 2012, 8:15 at the 20th FED Conference at the Maritime Hotel and International Congress Center in Dresden, Germany.

Executive Summary
Semiconductor end-of-life is an ever-present problem in every electronics manufacturing industry today, and it's not going away. The goal has always been to purchase a replacement that is the exact form, fit, and function as the original. Lately, companies have been offering a variety to aftermarket "substitute" solutions they claim to be form, fit, and function replacements; however, manufacturers are finding from experience that these parts often fall far short of that promise.

The importance of a vital mix of the semiconductor supplier chain is evident. One good way to get the right parts in time and in the designated quality is to have a variety between original manufacturers, franchise distributors, catalog distributors and brokers.

An obsolescence management audit is about revealing strengths and weaknesses within an organisation and to quantify them.

Obsolescence of products occurs due to future part innovation especially in areas where technology develops rapidly. Today, innovation cycles in all areas, from the smallest daily objects up to complex electronic circuits, are significantly faster than in the past.

Mobile phones are probably a good example for a very short lifetime. Next to a few exceptions, like the Nokia 3310, which was so robust that it would have probably survived the apocalypse, most mobile phones have a very short lifespan. They break very fast and through new innovations almost every year, they run out of fashion. The question is, do people even want mobile phones with a long lifetime?

Performance factors like teamwork, training, coaching and confidence during learning and improvement phases of obsolescence management are highly important for a successful and sustainable enhancement.

The tension of results and atmosphere, working groups, workshops and team building activities have enormous importance.

Invitation to an RAeS lecture in cooperation with the DGLR and VDI on Thursday, 15th November 2012, 18:00 at HAW Hamburg about Comprehensive Obsolescence Management methods – an overview.  

Daily thousands of Product Chance Notifications (PCNs) and End-of-Life notifications (EOL/ PDN) are received by companies worldwide. But have you ever thought about all the consequences of these notes? Can you appraise all risks of a false or tardy reaction in handling obsolescence?

The right resources at the right time!
Many electronic parts have life cycles that are shorter than the life cycle of the product they are a component of. Life cycle mismatches caused by the obsolescence of electronic parts can result in high sustainment costs for long life systems. In particular, avionics and military systems often encounter part obsolescence problems before being fielded and nearly always experience part obsolescence problems during their field life. Successful obsolescence management strategies and plans should be analyzed before taking any decision for action as the goal is to reduce systems’ life cycle costs by minimizing the time needed to resolve obsolescence cases.

You have a project of development, expansion, reorganization or daily business in regards to obsolescence management?

ABSC invites you to a 2-day obsolescence management seminar (held in German) to obtain the basic certificate according to the ΩM³ training course.

What is CM? 
CM is a management process technique which attempts to fully implement a process of documenting all requirements, designs and operational information of configurations and products in line over their lifetime. CM is a widely used technique in organizations to manage complex systems. CM manages the product information through its whole lifetime. One of the most important points of a consistent CM process is the documentation of all requirements, designs, baselines, part lists etc.. The CM process is establishing a process for the correct implementation of documents and ensures that they are always up to date, validated and released before use. The documentation has to be available for all users. CM verifies that the configuration is in line with the requirements and the documentation and ensures the functionality of the product. An important CM rule states that a "requirement is not a requirement unless it is documented". Documents have to be clear, concise and valid. They can be seen as the product's mirror.