Guide to Managing obsolescence - Case Study Example

Guide to managing obsolescence Introduction Engineering designing systems are concerned with offering higher quality, better reliability, lower cost,improved safety to all the new products designed. Designing managers play a pivotal role in bringing about this desirable change in the engineering design systems. The British Standard offers clear cut guidelines on managing obsolescence, one of the major challenges faced by design engineers all over the world and this report tries to provide a summary of the British Standard, taking into account the its scope, the process, the effects, the possible risks, the various benefits and the methods involved in controlling the entire process of obsolescence management. Significance and Selection of the Standard Managing obsolescence has been proved to be one of the major challenges for a graduate design engineer as obsolescence can adversely affect the life of products in almost all of their stages. The use of commercial parts in systems and the large increase in commercial products have accelerated the rate of obsolescence. As obsolescence is an inevitable part as far as various products are concerned, the only possible solution is to minimize the rate of obsolescence with proper and effective management strategies and planning: “Obsolescence is inevitable and it cannot be ignored but forethought and careful planning can minimize its impact and its potentially high costs” (British Standard p.1). Obsolescence management thus assumes special significance as it is “an integral part of design, development, production and in-service support” (British Standard p. 1). The British standard is significant and it is selected for the purpose of study due to its unavoidable importance in effective design management systems. The British standard is relevant and significant to any graduate design engineer because it offers certain clear-cut guidelines “for establishing a framework for obsolescence management and for planning a cost-effective obsolescence management process that is applicable through all phases of the product life cycle” (British Standard p. 1). The standard is applied to all types of products whether they are electronic, electrical or electro-mechanical components. Thus, for a graduate design engineer a thorough knowledge of the various provisions that can ensure the quality and life cycle costs of various products. The process for selecting the Standard The process for selecting the British Standard on obsolescence management include the identification of the potential factors that cause o obsolescence, identification of the possible risks involved in the process, calculation of the needed budgetary precautions, formulating an initial policy for obsolescence management, formation of the management plans for both strategy 1 and 2 and finally fixing software obsolescence issues and strategies. Obsolescence management covers a wide range of areas that include various new products, technology insertion and legacy equipment (British Standard P.1). The various clauses in the British standards focus on the various aspects of obsolescence management. For instance, clauses 4 and five deals with the choice and selection of an appropriate obsolescence management plan whereas clauses 6,7 and 8 deal with the various strategies (proactive, reactive and software strategies) that can be employed to prevent obsolescence rate among various products. It is the duty of the project manager to “analyse the anticipated project implementation(s), technology (ies) and support strategy (ies) taking into account their potential obsolescence” (British Standard p. 4). He has to prepare an outline of the obsolescence management plan, taking into account the proposals received from the contractors and this to be reviewed and maintained. The plan should make clear the choice of the strategy, define the roles of the customer and the supplier, the legal and budgetary provisions are to be set clearly. The Effects and Benefits of the British Standard The British Standard on obsolescence management proposes to bring about drastic changes to the quality of the products-their software, hardware and their service. As such the standard has far reaching effects on the design of products, the company, the user, the disposer and the operator. The relation between the customer and the supplier is significant in design management systems. Products can be of two types: customer designed or supplier designed. The human factor is significant in design management systems and as Sandham Harvey rightly puts it: “Systems cannot be considered to be truly integrated without the appropriate matching of users (not forgetting maintainers), the technology or equipment they will use, and the environment within which the equipment will be operated” (p-3-4) In order to know the proposed effects of the British Standard, one should be thorough with the standard terms and their definitions that are associated with the management design systems. The application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) refers to those integrated circuits “whose physical design is customized by or on behalf of the customer” whereas the term ‘standard product’ is used to refer to those “devices whose physical design is fixed by the supplier” (British Standard p.1). Similarly, the term ‘bespoke’ is used to refer to items “written or adapted to meet the specific need of the customer” (p.1). Thus, it is evident that bespoke its lack universal application as the specific needs of the customers vary from place to place and from time to time. Design management systems at times promote cannibalization, the “practice of using components, parts or assemblies, taken from within an inventory or product, in order to support other systems, plant or equipment”, with a view to reduce the level of obsolescence and to ensure better life cycle capability to the products. The customer is the central force around whom the whole of management designs systems are centered. The provisions in the British standard offer a commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) that provides the purchaser with the manufacturer’s data sheet. The integrated logistic support (ILS) is yet another provision in the British Standard and it seeks to influence product design and to determine support requirements for the products. Another provision that offers support to the products throughout their life time or the next technological update of the product is known as life time buy and a logistic support analysis record (LSAR) is to be kept with a view to maintain materiel readiness. The term ‘obsolescence management plan’ is employed to describe “the strategies for the identification and mitigation of the effects of obsolescence through all stages of the life of a product” (p.2). The terms ‘obsolescent and ‘obsolete’ are very often used interchangeably. While obsolescent refers to an announced future end of support date, the term obsolete refers to those hardware that are no longer in production by the manufacturer and the software that is no longer supported (p.2). Post design service is another area which has to be taken into account in design management systems. The products in the design management systems are categorized in to three- hardware, software and service. The concept of whole-life costs (WLC) also is significant as it refers to the “total resource required to assemble, equip, sustain, operate and dispose of a specified asset as detailed in the plan at defined levels of readiness, reliability, performance and safety” (British Standard p. 3). The design revisions envisioned by the Standard include parametric changes, emulation, partial equipment redesign, and equipment replacement under the obsolescence management plan for strategy 1. In short it can be concluded that the British Standard proposes to bring about far reaching effects in the design, operation and sue of various products. Methods of Controlling the Process Various controls are needed for the successful implementation of the obsolescence management plan. For this, “the plan should take into account the technology, complexity, cost and operational considerations of the product” (British Standard, p. 6). Technology transparency is an essential methodology in this regard. It seeks to promote the use of any technology in manufacture and support as long as “the form, fit and function (FFF) of complete assemblies are maintained” (British Standard p. 6). Obsolescence monitoring is another specific control that is to be employed. It includes “tracking the processes, materials and components used in design” (British Standard p.6). Planned system upgrades, undoubtedly, act as a strong control over obsolescence and the method seeks to identify or predetermine the possible obsolescence with a view to make the system up to date or replaced in times of need. The provision for lifetime buy, collaborative procurements, control conditions and intellectual property rights also aim at controlling the process of obsolescence management. The intellectual property rights “restrict the legal rights of the contractor to change or reproduce product designs without reference to, and contracts with, the owner of the IPR. As far as is economically possible IPR should be obtained for all items that are at risk”(British Standard, p. 9). All these above mentioned methods control the process of obsolescence management and therefore special care is to be employed to use them effectively. The risks involved For the British Standard to be effective, the project manager needs to identify and resolve the potential risks. These potential risks include “the impact of product being unavailable due to lack of spares”, “the impact of performance degradation due to substituted parts”, “the likely cost of premature replacement”, “the likely cost of other measures to circumvent obsolescence”, “the probability of obsolescence occurring due to advances in technology”, and the “probability of obsolescence occurring due to the introduction of new legislation” (British Standard p.3). It is therefore mandatory to locate these possible risks at the earliest and resolve them so that the obsolescence management plan becomes free of these factors that can be detrimental to the projects proposed. Conclusion Having gone through the various guidelines set by the British Standard, it is evident that the proposed standard aims at improving the quality of the products by reducing or managing the obsolescence rate. Special care is taken to improve the three aspects of management design systems-the hardware, the software and the service of products. The human factor and the cost factor of obsolescence management are also taken into account in the British Standard and one can possibly hope that effective ways of obsolescence management can bring about positive effects on the design management system as a whole. Bibliography Sandham C and Harvey RS (EDs), Human Factors for Engineers, The Institution of Electrical Engineers, 2004. Read More