Obsolescence
Obsolescence
Component obsolescence is an inevitable part of the manufacturing lifecycle. Many EMS firms provide analytics and recommendations to help you avoid disruption in the event a product is no longer feasible as it is built.
A complete lifecycle analysis should be performed at the design stage to ensure sourcing, pricing and delivery of all components is genuinely reliable.
When a component from an electronics design becomes obsolete, we need to start thinking about more costs: a new design needs to be done and maybe the cost of a potential replacement chip will make our BOM lose competiveness, production tools will need to be adapted, test sequence parameters will need to be changed…
We can foresee preventive actions when choosing the strategic components of a new design:
- The supplier’s production status will inform us whether the chip is new or is not recommended for new designs
- The supplier can be asked to inform about the product longevity data
- The datasheet date might be a sign on what may be happening to the component. A component created in 2007 is more likely to be replaced than one created in 2018
In all cases, you should look at obsolescence in its most critical form, i.e. the permanent halt of the component, as a product improvement opportunity.
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