Design for Obsolescence Risk Management

Abstract

Many systems that are required to be manufactured and supported for long time periods lack control over critical portions of their supply chains; these systems include: military, avionics, industrial controls, and rail infrastructure. This results in the components and technologies that these products depend on becoming obsolete (and unavailable) long before the system's demand for them is exhausted. Through-life cost models that incorporate obsolescence management are needed so that sustainment costs can be clearly understood during decision making, and the value of future management actions can be established to support business cases for strategic management.