Contradiction always beleaguers people and
each industry. With the ongoing technology innovation, material, parts and
products have to increasingly shorten the lifecycle and upgrade to meet
customers’ growingly demand. But at the same time, we can not deny, part obsolescencebrings large burden to OEMs and EMS, notably
those in such long-lifecycle segments as medical, aerospace, military and
defense devices.
In recent years, component obsolescence
becomes especially catchy, for the resulting costs loss, such as redesigning
product and stopping production.
Although parts supplier will issues a
notice telling buyers they have six months to place purchase orders and then
the part will become obsolete after 12 months, the EOL or PCNs usually can not
be available to many buyers, as such buyers have to seek for outdated component
from open market or aftermarkets, which generate the threat of counterfeit or
high fees to buyers.
Even the end-of-life (EOL) and product
change notices (PCNs) access buyers, there is still challenge for them to
manage the increasingly more and more EOL and PCNs, because product lifecycles
are generally getting shorter than they were in the past. Often the shorter the
product lifecycle, the quicker components become obsolete, and the more EOL and
PCNs are.
“Another issue is a buyer at one site may
get the EOL notice, but “doesn't know what to do with it. In a large company it
may not be known which sites are using the part” said Cliff Frescura, the CEO
of PCNAlert, a company that provides software and services that help companies
manage component obsolescence.
For defense and aerospace industries,
component obsolescence usually means dilemma. Technology innovation and product
renewal can benefit enterprises with more market shares, but the cost to qualify
a new component is huge, how to choose?
Component obsolescence will always be with
us, part obsolescence management is needed; tracking the product lifecycle
information to make a forecasting would be better. Then how to monitor the life
time of electronic component?
