Protecting your automation investment: Managing obsolescence in sortation systems

In practice, this means knowing that the system provider will treat obsolescence as a managed lifecycle risk, will be proactive in monitoring and identifying risks for obsolescent parts, and, when necessary, will handle the warnings, evaluate impacts and take action appropriately. This includes understanding the impact in relation to operational continuity and performance, and creating plans for mitigation actions where necessary. As a result, the system will remain operational, agile, and commercially viable throughout the full lifetime.

The lifecycle strategy for the sortation system should be considered from the beginning of the buying process to make sure it is part of the system provider’s support offerings. When the system is provided by a strong supplier, they will manage obsolescence through a strategic process. This is crucial to reduce financial uncertainty and risk while protecting the performance and reliability of the system. Obsolescence management protects the value of a system, which in turn has a beneficial impact on business continuity as the system will continue to run reliably.

The hidden risk of uncertainty

When parts or software are no longer available, the system may be unable to work. If this happens suddenly, then it can result in significant cost, a large amount of downtime, and impact on the bottom line of the business. As there are multiple elements that can become obsolete, not knowing when parts may reach this stage can be extremely risky for businesses.

Another expensive element of long-life systems is their incompatibility; when new software is rolled out or there are new regulatory standards, these cannot always integrate with the existing system, leading to unsupported components and a system that does not run as it should. This leads to vulnerability, as aging systems that cannot be correctly updated are more vulnerable. As a result, system failures may take longer to resolve, potentially leading to increased downtime and operational disruption. Avoiding these risks and uncertainty happens through implementing a proactive obsolescence strategy.

Understanding an obsolescence management strategy

Despite these risks, operational disruption is easily avoidable if there is a proactive obsolescence management strategy in place. Obsolescence is an unavoidable reality for any long-life automation system. However, how it is managed directly impacts how it affects a company. The purpose of lifetime support is to ensure that technology evolution never becomes an unexpected operational or financial risk for the customer.

Obsolescence management covers several key areas. A thorough obsolescence management strategy must include risk assessment and alerting when a part is becoming old or incompatible, a plan for resolving this (such as replacement parts or retrofits), then the testing and documentation that comes with the replacement itself, and finally, change management and organisation-wide communication for those who should be informed.

Suppliers also assist with the knowledge sharing aspect of managing obsolescence, including distributing updates relating to replacements through internal processes and tools, helping plan and budget for any coming changes, and using it as an opportunity to sustain or improve system performance.

A strong lifecycle strategy from a systems provider should account for monitoring supplier phase-outs, assessing risks, identifying replacements, and include planning, budgeting and decision-making. The overall intention of this is to be sure that the system will continue to run as it should and any obsolescence will have a minimal impact as every aspect of the replacement process has been considered. For the business, this results in better security, certainty, and protected value as they have better control over the long-term performance of the sortation system.

Key areas in obsolescence: backwards compatibility and 1:1 replacements

While the above process is one that should be supported by a systems provider and must be considered during procurement, there are some specific areas that require additional focus. One consideration when protecting sortation systems is backward compatibility, which means ensuring that legacy and older systems integrate seamlessly with modern upgrades and system supportability is maintained throughout any updating process. For example, if a software update is needed, backward compatibility ensures that this will align with older hardware and not prevent it from working.

In order to ensure a system keeps working throughout this, the system supplier must plan for the upgrades, provide training or guidance for any operators of the system, and be aware of any potential risks that could occur. Without this, the time in which it takes to manage the situation and ensure the systems integrate can become very long and very costly. Prior planning removes this risk and ensures the business can operate as normal.

Another aspect to consider is 1:1 replacements. Although some hardware parts and software are designed and manufactured by the systems provider, who are responsible for their long-term availability, other components, software platforms, control systems and technologies may be sourced from external suppliers, where availability depends on the original manufacturer’s product lifecycle.

When these elements are discontinued, a simple 1:1 replacement is not always possible. Interfaces, controls, business rules, system layout and operational requirements may all need to be considered before a suitable solution can be implemented. In these cases, it is part of the obsolescence management to assess the technical impact, identify viable replacement, retrofit or upgrade options, and ensure that the chosen solution is tested and documented before implementation.

This must be done in a timely manner, as the aim is not only to replace what is no longer available, but to keep the sortation system running reliably and, where possible, use the change as an opportunity to sustain or improve system performance.

TAKEAWAY

Choosing to use a trusted sortation system provider with a strong obsolescence management service means that there will be support throughout the lifecycle of a system, including throughout any obsolescence, upgrades, patching, and more.

Having this support in place means that the sortation system has a carefully managed and planned lifecycle, with the right operations and maintenance support throughout the system’s lifecycle. As a result, the system avoids unexpected downtime that could impact the business, as updates are implemented smoothly without affecting system performance or availability.

A strong partnership with suppliers is vital for proactively managing obsolescence with minimal operational impact, helping to safeguard business continuity and long-term performance.