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Managing obsolescence for maximum uptime and performance
According to research conducted by Oneserve in partnership with British manufacturers, downtime costs British manufacturing £180bn a year. Three per cent of all working days are lost annually in manufacturing due to faulty machinery, equating to 49 hours of work and £31,000 per company. Ensuring a readily available supply of spare parts, to guarantee the uptime of business-critical equipment and machinery can be a daily challenge, especially when items are no longer serviceable or become obsolete. Leroy Spence, director at Obso Global, details the steps to take when defining and implementing obsolescence management. He explains how to mitigate risk when sourcing end-of-life and hard-to-find parts, with a planned and proactive approach
the use of pirate parts or cheap imports, there are often numerous plug and play alternatives or a migration path available that will return the equipment to the same original performance. This could include the redesign or reverse engineering of the unit if items are no longer available. This phase also presents an ideal opportunity to reconsider the energy performance of the spare parts, or any legislative
What is obsolescence?
Obsolete does not mean that the equipment has reached the end of its life and needs to be disposed of. It simply defines that the part is no longer supported by the manufacturer, meaning alternative sources will need to be considered.
The International Electrotechnical Commission’s (IEC) own obsolescence management standard, BS EN IEC 62402:2019, states:
“The objective of obsolescence management is to ensure that obsolescence is managed as an integral part of all design, development, production and in-service support, in order to minimise cost and detrimental impact throughout the product lifecycle.”
Part of this product management lifecycle is to understand current and future risk and put steps in place to mitigate. Operators need certainty over the anticipated life of the production line – creating a long-term strategy that includes replacement parts and an adequate stock of critical spares. This should be assisted by a trusted support partner that can help incorporate obsolescence into the system design.
24 October 2022
Step by step to create a plan The first step is to undertake an audit of the installed base of machinery and equipment. This should identify the risk by area, line and machine; detailing which parts are likely to have the biggest impact were they to become obsolete.
Having categorised parts into order of priority, the second stage is to understand the equipment lifecycle. Spare parts do not reach obsolescence at pre-determined intervals and their availability cannot necessarily be predicted. Operators should keep abreast of product change notifications and end-of-life announcements from the manufacturer, to help build an accurate profile of which parts are current and readily available, which are due to become obsolete and which are already obsolete. Rather than waiting for a part to fail, this method helps operators stay in control, minimising the potential for expensive downtime, reducing the time-consuming search for parts and freeing up resource for more productive tasks.
A third stage, which can often be overlooked, is to consider an alternative to the obvious ‘like-for-like’ parts replacement. While no reputable supply partner would advocate
Components in Electronics
changes which may have impacted since the initial capital investment. It may be the case that an upgrade could be considered which will reduce energy consumption or prolong service life by bringing the equipment in line with current standards.
Forecasting precisely when a critical component may reach the end of its service life and when the manufacturer may stop supporting the part are key components of an obsolescence policy. However, the practice is much harder than the theory, which is where it can pay dividends to enlist the expertise of a third-party supplier.
Reactive and proactive obsolescence management
Such suppliers can help advise on techniques to help manage the lifecycle of a component. Historically, operators may have only acted once a product discontinuation notice (PDN) has been issued. Remedial action would then be taken to either source an alternative component part when it reaches the end of its life, potentially repair the part or, at worst, begin planning for equipment replacement. In contrast, proactive obsolescence management allows the operator, supported
by an outsourced obsolescence management partner, to predict changes that are likely to occur and plan for that obsolescence, by monitoring availability of critical spares regularly. Routine, proactive maintenance will always help prolong equipment longevity and help prioritise energy performance. In this way, operators can help lower ownership costs over the lifetime of the equipment. Retrofitting programmes can also be implemented and a minimum stock of critical spare parts and components carried, to avoid equipment failure further down the line. This approach provides greater certainty over costs, the availability of replacement parts, as well as delivering an installation programme that will have the least effect on productivity.
Which supplier?
A reputable supplier is one that aims to minimise production downtime during any parts upgrade or replacement, with a particular focus on maintaining the existing equipment parameters. This may mean that the first option is not to source an immediate like-for-like replacement, but to consider reverse engineering a component part or finding an upgraded alternative which may require minimal programming.
Third-party suppliers can offer numerous solutions for the management of the physical spare parts stock that a business requires. For example, not every component that has reached the end of its life needs to be disposed of. Assets can often be repaired or upgraded, using original components to return a component to useful life.
Obso Global is a supplier of obsolete and hard-to-find, genuine spare parts, including new, pre-owned parts and parts exchange options.
https://obsoglobal.com/uk
www.cieonline.co.uk
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