From a sustainability perspective, proactive planning reduces electronic waste by extending the lifecycle of components and minimising the need for replacements or disposal of obsolete parts. By embedding obsolescence strategies early, startups can not only secure their supply chains but also contribute to a more circular economy.

Rochester Electronics presents six steps for managing component obsolescence.

1. Obsolescence management begins at the design and product definition phases

Component selection in development is a deciding factor in potential premature product redesigns and requalification. This is a particularly relevant issue for customers with lengthy development and qualification cycles.

The lowest-cost sources may not be the best choice for long-term supply. It is difficult to obtain absolute guarantees of stock availability over the long-term, as there may be unforeseen natural disasters, market instabilities, and product acquisitions, which cannot be predicted years in advance. Therefore, a reliable supplier needs to demonstrate a proven transition process through end-of-life (EOL) and into long-term authorised supply, and long-term production. It is imperative to ask any supplier what their commitments are to long-term availability.

2. Understanding the total costs of obsolescence

It is important to understand and model the costs and risks associated with obsolescence. Component obsolescence is never just a purchasing problem to be addressed as an afterthought.

Key questions to consider:

• Does the project plan need to include anticipated product refresh or re-design during its life? If yes, how will it be funded?

• How will the business account for the capital locked down in long-term component sourcing?

• What will the component obsolescence impact be on after-sales service commitments?

• What effect would a shortened product lifecycle have on your customers and end-users?

3. Planning for obsolescence and resource management

If your equipment has long qualifications, productions, or in-service lives you will face component obsolescence.

Best-in-class organisations devote skilled multi-disciplined workers to obsolescence management. Preventative planning by purchasers, component engineers, designers, and program managers can reduce or eliminate cost and risk.

4. Identify important product discontinuation notices (PDNS) that may affect your business and monitor them

Proactively monitoring component lifecycles is crucial to anticipating problems before they occur. Excellent commercial tools are available which track a component’s lifecycle, lead-times, and specification changes. Such tools provide alerts that can be triggered when PDNs are issued. Keep in mind that these tools use current market trackers to estimate remaining component life.

There are generic management databases allowing users to load BOM structures into the database matching and highlighting any PDN affecting the specified products. Each manufacturer has their own unique PDN format. It can prove very time-consuming to assess and log all affected part numbers manually. Some PDNs may contain over 500-part numbers.

5. Last time buy (LTB) – what to forecast?

Forecasting is not an exact science and, unfortunately, it is likely that forecasts will be inaccurate. It is difficult to anticipate product needs years in advance or possible market disruptions. If production forecasting is difficult, accurately predicting after-sales needs can be challenging. Underestimating needs has a risk of prematurely terminating a product and losing sales. Overestimating needs ties up unnecessary capital in stock, while paying excessive storage costs.

Additionally, if a redesign in the future is planned to limit the cost of the LTB, then the design, requalification, and the opportunity costs of using precious engineering resources all need to be factored in.

While there are very few options beyond placing a traditional LTB order, working with a supplier with an established EOL transition path offers the hope of risk-free ongoing authorised stock and production.

6. Purchase from 100% authorised sources

There is a common misconception that once the original manufacturer stops producing a component, that unauthorised, or grey market sources are the only option. The risk-free option of an authorised after-market supplier should always be the first choice.

The risks of counterfeit and poor-quality components from unauthorised sources represent a significant risk to production yields and Mean Time Between Failure Rates (MTBR) in the field. Inferior or substandard testing by unauthorised third parties provides a false veneer of confidence that authenticity can be tested. This mimicry of testing is a visual, an x-ray, or a poor partial copy of the original manufacturer’s test processes. Full tri-temp testing is rarely offered, and the risk of commercial-grade components being re-marked as industrial, automotive, or military parts is always possible.

As a licensed semiconductor manufacturer, Rochester offers on-going solutions using information and technology transferred directly to Rochester from the Original Component Manufacturer (OCM).

Rochester utilises the original die and fab processes, matching the original designs, assembly solutions, and test protocols. All the resulting product is 100% certified, licensed, guaranteed, and sold with full approval under the original manufacturer’s part number.

To best support the customer’s ongoing need to extend the life of semiconductor products, Rochester continues to invest in design solutions, ensuring your system software does not need to change, while simultaneously creating drop-in hardware solutions that minimise new qualification expenses.

Expect and plan for the unexpected. It is now more vital than ever before to have partners who can support businesses during unforeseen or unplanned component discontinuations, completely risk-free whenever they occur.

This article originally appeared in the January/February 2025 issue of Startups Magazine. Click here to subscribe