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Innovation is a vital element in the dynamic world we live in, aiming at add-ing value to developing new systems. Obsolescence on the other hand com-prehends the deterioration of the system or component capacity to operate when it is no longer suitable to fulfil the required function, even if it still operates and can be manufactured and supported. As innovative and obsolete products can be seen as opposites, the proactive management of obsoles-cence encompasses the principles of innovation. Obsolescence has so far been mainly addressed from a reactive point of view. Realizing the impact of the conceptual design phase on a system’s life-cycle cost, this paper presents how a model-based system engineering approach, proactively assessing obso-lescence risks, leverages with innovation considerations. In doing so, the pa-per builds on technology readiness levels (TRL) to identify critical compo-nents and innovation considerations. With clearly identified risks, designers can knowingly decide whether to improve a design, by making it robust and resilient, or to accept the risks and develop an obsolescence management plan. The paper is illustrated with an example from the automotive industry.

Obsolescence is the fact that an entity (physical or logical) is becoming outdated or no longer useful and in this way is considered inappropriate. The objectives of this article are twofold. First, we seek to contribute to the understanding of obsolescence through two conceptual models. They enable, among others, to link the points of view of the external and internal actors of the system. This mapping is fundamental when it comes to solve the re-design problems posed by some obsolescence issues. The obsolescence management process consists of Prepare, Identify, Assess, Analyze, and Implement. The second objective is to offer two support tools for the Identify and Assess phases: House of Obsolescence and System Obsolescence Exposure Analysis. The first allows to map the changes, desired or imposed, by external actors to the critical components and functions of the system architecture. These latter are then analyzed using the second tool whose objective is to assign an obsolescence exposure index to the identified obsolescence issues in order to prioritize them for solution determination during the analysis phase. The tools make extensive use of the modeled system knowledge through the application of System Engineering. The application of the tools is then illustrated through a case study.