Obsolescence: Mitigating the risks

Nothing lasts forever, and even the most reliable and established products will eventually need to be replaced, whether that’s through wear, supersession or discontinuation. Obsolescence poses a number of challenges, and the process of mitigating or resolving them can be complicated, time-consuming and expensive, without the right support.

There are two different ways of understanding obsolescence within the context of manufacturing. Technical obsolescence is the most common, and occurs when a new product supersedes an old one, thus becoming the preferred choice. Functional obsolescence occurs when a company changes its processes or business strategy, meaning the existing equipment no longer serves its original purpose.

The latter is usually planned as part of a business’s revised strategy. Technical obsolescence, however, is often problematic, particularly if it is unexpected.

Technical obsolescence can occur for a number of reasons. The amalgamation of two companies, for example, could mean that one department or product group duplicates or contradicts another one. Changes to legislation can lead to parts obsolescence if existing products or technologies are deemed to be non-compliant. Product upgrades or improvements can also cause parts obsolescence, and will become increasingly problematic as greener technology and Industry 4.0 gather pace. 

Many of us use legacy machinery – after all, replacing machinery wholesale is both expensive and disruptive. However, the challenge many manufacturers face is sourcing the spare parts needed to maintain or repair legacy equipment and many approaches come with downsides.

Stockpiling parts, for example, may seem like a sensible thing to do, but these stores will also need maintaining, rotating and reviewing on a regular basis. Spare parts don’t have an unlimited shelf life. Elastomers and metals, for example, will start to degrade until they eventually become useless. Furthermore, relying on legacy machinery also means relying on the staff that understand how to use it. 

Without some kind of strategy in place, engineers can find themselves wasting valuable time while spare parts or know-how are sourced, impacting productivity.

Put simply, you need to identify the areas of your plant that are at the highest risks of obsolescence, and start mitigating these risks. This can be done in-house, but it’s better to use an asset management specialist.

Obsolescence audit

The specialist will start by conducting a full obsolescence audit of your plant, identifying any areas of concern and ordering them by “criticality”. They should also conduct a processes and utilities audit, in which aspects such as reliability and energy efficiency can be examined.

What follows is an 'asset consolidation', wherein you can gain further insight into your stock, spares and storerooms. This will allow you to spot any purchasing trends that aren’t particularly cost effective, and organise your store to allow for the proper rotation of everyday items.

Following this, you can start implementing a set of KPIs to guide and focus your asset management activities. The final stage involves outlining and applying a full asset management programme using 'mean time between failures' (MTBF) and 'mean time to repair' (MTTR) analyses. From here, you can start to build an effective preventative maintenance regime to reduce the likelihood of unexpected downtime due to part obsolescence or failure.

Knowledge is a powerful thing, particularly when it comes to planning for obsolescence. By being aware of the parts you use, the parts you’ll need, and the parts that may soon cease to exist, you can build an idea of what you will need to upgrade, replace or gradually phase out, and factor these into a wider preventative maintenance schedule.