Strategies to the Prediction, Mitigation and Management of Product Obsolescence

9.1 APPLYING PROJECT MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES TO OBSOLESCENCE MANAGEMENT

The reactive obsolescence mitigation approaches described in Chapter 7 are methods whereby an unplanned obsolescence situation can be handled. Reactive methods may become very expensive over the lifetime of a system, may require time and resources to implement that are not available when needed, or may fail to provide the parts support required throughout the life of the system. Therefore, it is important to have strategic obsolescence management solutions at the design stage and over the entire life cycle of the product.

The problem of how to implement a successful, cost-effective, and comprehensive strategic obsolescence management plan persists. Every occurrence of obsolescence, as well as every project, bears the risk of economic failure and also additional costs and expenses; therefore, it is important to implement an appropriate management system to analyze the possible causes of obsolescence, to implement reasonable methods to minimize the risk of obsolescence, and to plan far enough into the future to maintain cost control (Horvarth, 2006).

The following sections describe how to implement a comprehensive strategic obsolescence management plan. The strategic procedures and tactics are based on the fundamentals of project management, and both benefits and limitations are addressed. The sections and; likewise, the strategies, are sorted in order of the typical development stages of a project, as shown in ...