Decision support for active obsolescence management of Systems – EOS

Obsolescence, "the transition from the state of availability to the state of unavailability of an entity from its manufacturer according to the original specification" is inevitable. Changes in technology and requirements generate obsolescence that makes repair or maintenance or upgrading difficult. Component obsolescence exposes the value chain to various risks (financial, etc.) that can lead to the operational unavailability of systems. Obsolescence management seeks to delay its occurrence, provide a long time window for action, and determine the least costly solution.
Management approaches are either reactive or proactive. A reactive solution is applied after the obsolescence has occurred. Proactive methods seek to predict obsolescence in order to anticipate it, but they are complex and benefit from little work. Both approaches are necessary and complementary.
The work of the EOS project seeks to define a method to assist in the activE (i.e. reactive and proactive) management of system obsolescence in order to
1) Maximise the operational availability of a system or a fleet of systems via a simulator. Availability is assessed by the Operational Availability Rate (OAR) which is the ratio of the number of hours of proven operational availability to the total number of hours.
2) Define or characterise and evaluate any remediation strategy by a set of indicators such as the total cost of implementing remediations or the immunity time (the time before the OAR is impacted).
3) Size the spare parts inventory and determine the replenishment plan for components at risk.
4) Optimise the time window for action by accepting a threshold of acceptability of the risk of stock shortage with regard to costs and the target OAR.