05-11-2023, 11:23 AM
Not wishing to drag this off topic but there is an important point here.
Manufacturers make their money by manufacturing! simples!
The company I work for has a large factory here in the UK.
We design and Manufacture equipment for the domestic market, Europe, and The Americas. very different specs.
Its industrial equipment and its got a design life of 10 years.
We support the equipment with spares etc for 10 years after the unit has gone out of production (No mean feat!)
The equipment type is replaced on average around every 8 years (some types its 15 years).
Some of our customers try to replace the equipment every 10 years on a rolling program but we recovered a piece of equipment in 2018 (still working) that was commissioned in 1976.
Domestic equipment has a design life much shorter phones PC tablets its probably 3 years white goods probably nearer to 7
Recently (certainly the last 10 years) we have had to start to review the product lifecycle because key components have just ceased manufacture sometimes without notice.
The Chips and key parts in computer equipment is changing very fast and for the majority of the users 3 years is accepted as its lifespan. At that point the cost of upgrading the software for the very low number of units in service becomes un-economic.
We recently quoted to add features to a 20 year old unit for a Customer and he was shocked at the cost he could easily buy 100 new units with the feature already present for the same money.
I wish it were not so but that's the reality.
Its only us determined sods not prepared to let good hardware die that try to buck the trend.
Cheers
Mike T
Manufacturers make their money by manufacturing! simples!
The company I work for has a large factory here in the UK.
We design and Manufacture equipment for the domestic market, Europe, and The Americas. very different specs.
Its industrial equipment and its got a design life of 10 years.
We support the equipment with spares etc for 10 years after the unit has gone out of production (No mean feat!)
The equipment type is replaced on average around every 8 years (some types its 15 years).
Some of our customers try to replace the equipment every 10 years on a rolling program but we recovered a piece of equipment in 2018 (still working) that was commissioned in 1976.
Domestic equipment has a design life much shorter phones PC tablets its probably 3 years white goods probably nearer to 7
Recently (certainly the last 10 years) we have had to start to review the product lifecycle because key components have just ceased manufacture sometimes without notice.
The Chips and key parts in computer equipment is changing very fast and for the majority of the users 3 years is accepted as its lifespan. At that point the cost of upgrading the software for the very low number of units in service becomes un-economic.
We recently quoted to add features to a 20 year old unit for a Customer and he was shocked at the cost he could easily buy 100 new units with the feature already present for the same money.
I wish it were not so but that's the reality.
Its only us determined sods not prepared to let good hardware die that try to buck the trend.
Cheers
Mike T
It's rare and desirable
