Can Proactive Obsolescence Management and Innovation go hand in hand during the Conceptual Design Phase of Complex Systems?

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.