Product Lifecycle Challenge: How long should we offer spare parts after the products become obsolete?

Filed in archive Practical Tips on September 19, 2007

One of the new areas in supply chain management (which I´m working in :)) in product lifecycle Management (PLM). This field covers almost all the things in the value chain of the product from the idea stage till the time it becomes obsolete. Today I try to answer one of the questions I have been asked regularly and it is related to PLM.

The question is: How long should we supply spare parts for the products after they become obsolete?

Well as a quick fix, you can stop offering the provision after the last market launch (and maybe production in the case you are manufacturer) at a time equal to warranty period.

This quick fix, even though it´s quick, it may not be optimum. The better way is innovation in design in such a way that next generation components can substitute the earlier ones. In this case in addition to savings in training for installation or repair, you keep less number of SKUs and thus at the end of the day you spend less.

If your design is not in such a way that enables you to do this, you can rely on historical data and in the case you don´t have the spare part, you can give a product for free (This option is useful in the case that the demand for old spare parts is low).

Do you have any other idea?