Lifecycle
The Risks of EOL: Lifetime Buy in “real world” terms
February 6, 2013
In the past we’ve talked about the challenges of Last-time Buy and overstock. In Dr. Sandborn’s CALCE Obsolescence Management training, this question illustrates the challenges and risks in regards to what customers can face, at the time of EOL. The answer might be easy if you were looking at a “bridge buy”, where you only…
Cutting Electronic Waste out of the Counterfeit Supply Chain
December 3, 2012
According to the EPA, although electronic waste (or sometimes known as “e-waste”) is less than 10% of the current solid waste stream, it is growing 2-3 times faster than any other waste stream. In 2005 an estimated 26-37 million computers became obsolete and the Consumer Electronics Association reported that roughly 304 million electronics—were removed from…
What do vintage cars and embedded boards have in common?
September 26, 2012
They both get harder to maintain as they get older, and if you don’t plan for obsolescence, they can both fail. It’s common sense. As things get older, they become more expensive to maintain. For example, an antique car was state-of-the art when it first came out. It performed beautifully, and the parts were easy…
Legacy and NI Week 2012
September 12, 2012
When people think of “legacy”, they often think of what is being passed along or left to the future. We believe a business’ legacy is the lasting mark they make on the industry, impacting future generations of innovators. That is why I look forward to the keynote addresses at NI Week. Each day demonstrates the…
Obsolescence and why you can’t always just make more.
August 22, 2012
When I first began my work with GDCA one of the questions I had was “Why is dealing with obsolete components not just about making more parts?” As I have come to learn, unfortunately, obsolescence management is not just as simple as “making more parts.” Imagine you manufacture various components. In the 1960s, the computers…
No one wants to be left with EOL overstock
August 8, 2012
On one of the blogs I read, someone commented: “If you’re concerned about counterfeits in obsolete components… don’t worry about to-be-discontinued components — just design them in, and buy what you need to support the product anyway. Then you won’t have to worry about counterfeits.” On the surface and if you are only worried about…
What does Brooks Stevens have to do with “Planned Obsolescence”?
June 7, 2012
You may not know about Brooks Stevens, and today is his birthday. Clifford Brooks Stevens, born June 7, 1911, was an American industrial designer of home furnishings, appliances, automobiles and motorcycles— as well as a graphic designer and stylist. At the time of his death, he was considered “a major force in industrial design.” If…
Condition-Based-Maintenance (CBM): The leading edge of proactive sustainment
March 1, 2012
Defense Maintenance & Sustainment Summit (DMS 2012) February 27-29, 2012, | La Jolla, California It was my first time attending WBR’s Defense Maintenance & Sustainment Summit, and it was fascinating to hear about best practices from the many government attendees and their commercial partners. The focus was CBM (condition-based-maintenance), a sustainment approach that involves installing…
Reflecting on VITA’s Embedded Tech Trends (ETT 2012)
January 18, 2012
Following its development in the late 1970s by Motorola, VME bus continues to see wide use across many different equipment industries today. In fact, the first COTS VME boards to enter the domestic market (c 1983) were the MVME101 CPU and MVME110 CPU, both of which are still supported by GDCA today (though no one’s asked in…