Despecialization: a systematic approach to (re-)engineer systems ensuring a better resilience to obsolescence and shortages

Abstract

Obsolescence and shortages have a strong impact on all value chains today. They can be found in all areas. They have an impact on both consumers and manufacturers. They can affect all components, products, systems, etc. Facing these two phenomena, ABMI, a multi-specialty engineering company, proposes despecialization as a solution. It allows components to be remanufactured and upgraded without the original supplier's specifications in case of obsolescence or shortage. This despecialization generally makes the system more resilient and robust. However, when despecialization is carried out to address obsolescence and shortages, different sets of consequences may arise. The improvements made to one component may, for example, degrade the performance of certain functions, or they may change the behavior of other components, or even change the properties of the system, i.e. reliability, maintainability, and availability. All these changes are the result of the propagation of the consequences of obsolescence and shortages. It is therefore essential to study the dependencies, especially between components, in any despecialization action to ensure the proper functioning of the system and its sustainability over time. In this paper, certain dependencies are studied in a case study of a mechanical system. We use Bayesian network theory to explore the modeled dependencies. The objective is to show the propagation of the effects of architectural changes on the resilience of the redesigned or despecialized product. The paper concluded with conclusions and perspectives on future research undertaken.