Software stops the consequences of obsolescence of electronic components
Electronic components – control units, switching devices, frequency converters, drive controllers or sensors – only have a limited service life, and this is getting shorter and shorter. The average service life of a frequency inverter, for example, is 60 months. This is due to ever faster innovation cycles and rapid technical progress. Often, production is simply no longer sufficiently profitable. Manufacturers have no choice but to discontinue the components and replace them with newer, more modern and more efficient ones. The industry is faced with a dilemma: the short life cycles of electronic components are becoming less and less compatible with the longer utilisation periods of devices and systems.
The German Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers’ Association (ZVEI) refers to the state in which a good or process is no longer available as obsolescence. The word obsolescence stands for ‘to wear out, grow old, go out of fashion, lose reputation, lose value’ (Latin obsolescere). The consequences of obsolescence are high costs and system downtime. Experts estimate that for devices and systems with life cycles of over ten years, up to 50 per cent of the total product cycle costs are caused by direct or indirect consequences of obsolescence.
However, the problem of component unavailability is often only recognised when a need for spare parts arises due to necessary repairs or maintenance measures. It is not uncommon for a supposedly insignificant component discontinuation to cause the cancellation of entire assemblies, complex modules or even complete systems. The early introduction of an obsolescence management system is urgently needed here.
INspares GmbH has developed a system for obsolescence management in manufacturing companies for precisely this purpose. The idea behind it: If all electronic components in a company are digitally recorded and stored in a central database and this is realised for many companies, a gigantic database with many thousands of electronic components is created.
If this database is linked to the manufacturers’ data (Siemens, SEW, Lenze, Schneider Electric, Rockwell, etc.), they can enter their information about an impending discontinuation. The result is a system in which every user of a discontinued electronic component is automatically informed of the discontinuation at an early stage. The solution starts at three different points: in the planning and design phase, during delivery and in productive use by the end user. Ideally, these points interlock and leave no gaps.
Planning and design phase
In the industrial environment, many plant engineers use Eplan software. The software accesses component lists from many manufacturers in order to design and plan a machine, system or control cabinet. Through a planned co-operation between INspares GmbH and Eplan, the latter’s software could be linked to the Inspares component database so that the engineer already has information on the discontinuation of components used during the planning and design phase. This would allow them to replace these components at this early stage. Plant integrators are also brought on board. As part of the final acceptance test at the customer’s premises, a check is carried out against the Inspares database for existing obsolescence in installed components. In this way, the problem is detected before the system goes into productive operation. For this purpose, the total article parts list is sufficient to carry out a comparison. Inspares then provides feedback via a traffic light system.
Permanent all-round view
Manufacturing companies are at the centre of the solution. Without knowing which electronic components are used in the company, the entire system will not work. To begin with, data is recorded and all electronic components are catalogued. The app is used to record all relevant data and parameters, including photos taken on site.
This information provides the company with a 360-degree view of its components, their life cycle, specifications and suppliers. On average, around 70 components are recorded per hour. On the other hand, the central database is fed by Inspares.
If a component is discontinued by manufacturer A, the customer is informed and can take appropriate measures. For example, the system checks how often the component is installed and at which critical points it is in use.
In this way, the management receives decision-making aids in order to be able to make targeted decisions. Does the stock level need to be increased? Does a retrofit need to be budgeted and planned? Or do you want to continue taking risks? The only important thing is that management can be involved, because there are now reliable figures.
100 per cent transparency
As already mentioned, a centralised and manufacturer-neutral component database offers new, previously unimaginable insights and statistics for all parties involved.
In future, every manufacturer of an electronic component will receive information on how often their component is actually in use. The user, i.e. the industrial company, will know how many units of component A are in use and how many of them are in stock – and how many units are in stock at the manufacturer or how quickly they could be delivered.
With the help of modern AI, the INspares software is even able to make forecasts and probabilities about an imminent component failure or an imminent discontinuation. A rapidly growing database plus historical data is used for this purpose. The risk of system downtime due to the failure of an electronic component is thus minimised, which means that the system also makes an overall contribution to environmental protection and energy saving. Because unnecessary production downtimes can be avoided, hectic taxi journeys with spare parts across Germany, for example, become obsolete.
Connecting external service providers
The story doesn’t end here: connecting external service providers creates new business models. If repair service providers are connected, for example, they can act proactively on the basis of forecasts and probabilities of possible component failures and knock on the customer’s door before the component in question fails.
On the other hand, the customer, i.e. the industrial company, learns that a component that could potentially fail can also be repaired by a repair service provider. Instead of being replaced, it is repaired, which saves immense costs. Logistics service providers could also dock onto the database. This would allow them to find out at an early stage where and with whom there is an acute and imminent need for spare parts and they can then deliver immediately.
