legacy equipment manufacturer

The Real Risk of Legacy Products Is Reputation

For Embedded OEMs, the risk of legacy isn’t just technical—it’s reputational. When aging products remain in your portfolio without a clear plan for support, the brand you’ve worked so hard to build is what takes the hit.  Strategic customers expect continuity. When legacy products fail in the field or can’t be supported, they don’t just blame the product—they question the company.  Legacy Isn’t Neutral  Holding on to legacy…

LEM vs Vendor: Why OEMs Need a Legacy Equipment Manufacturer for Long-Term Sustainment

If you treat legacy like a transaction, you’ll keep paying for it.  Many OEMs think of end-of-life and sustainment transfers as a simple handoff. You document the product, pick a vendor, issue a PO, and move on.  But what happens when that “simple” PO fails an audit? Or when a critical DoD program is grounded because that…

Planning for Legacy Sustainment Isn’t Optional — It’s a Business Decision You’re Already Making

The Cost of Waiting: Why Legacy Failures Are Always More Expensive Later  Legacy systems rarely fail all at once. They fail quietly—and expensively.  A component reaches end-of-life. A supplier exits the market. Test capability erodes as documentation ages and people move on. None of it feels urgent in isolation.  But together, these small degradations create something far…

Strategies for Managing Obsolete Semiconductors amidst Changing Global Markets and Supply Chain Issues

Semiconductors are literally the backbone of all electronics–and because of that, when a semiconductor becomes obsolete, finding support for it, whether that be replacement parts, fresh components, or repair services, goes from a routine thing to a major problem. Plus, with the current U.S. administration’s tariffs, both in-progress and implemented, the global semiconductor industry has…

Wrapping Up 2024 with Tania Scroggie

Tania Scroggie returns in her short YouTube series, Tania’s Teachables, exploring the incredible journey that we’ve been on together this year. In this latest installment, Tania reflects on the various topics she’s covered in legacy sustainment and support. She plans to use this as a foundation for even more exploration into the unique and fascinating…

Natural Energy of Operations | Letter From The CEO

It’s that time of year again: annual operating planning. Hooray! Jokes aside, successful planning relies on how well everyone understands the leadership team’s vision and their role in making the magic happen. The general approach is to develop an executive vision, followed by departmental plans. For 2023, most OEMs will continue dealing with booming demand…

5 Sustainment Questions Every Program Must Ask Itself

DoD Programs routinely face a backlog of open cases for parts that are unprocurable owing to obsolescence or DMSMS. Problematic parts range from bolts and valves to complex computer electronics. When these cases are not quickly resolved, the fallout can be significant, resulting in undermined warfighters’ missions and jeopardized lives. In this critical thought, we’ll…

The Win-Lose Dilemma

All people face personal dilemmas during their lifetimes. Corporations, made up of people, face a fair number of professional dilemmas as well. Companies that produce embedded computer products are aware of the issues surrounding component obsolescence. At the end of these products’ active lives, supporting these aging or legacy products consumes more than just manufacturing…

Do your legacy products spark joy?

“We have too much stuff,” my wife said six months into the pandemic. We’d done purges before, but they never lasted. Soon afterward, she’d say, “We STILL have too much stuff!” And she was right. This time, we decided to search the internet for advice and discovered Marie Kondo. “KonMari” is a Japanese organizational consultant…

Wood Burning as Disposition for End-of-Life Products

Wood Burning as Disposition for End-of-Life Products I live on a ranch in northern California. This winter, we accounted for the dead oak trees and cleared them for the first time. Some of the wood we used for decoration, some to frame the dog’s new pen, and some we decided to sell. Because we do…