On one of the blogs I read, someone commented:

“If you’re concerned about counterfeits in obsolete components… don’t worry about to-be-discontinued components — just design them in, and buy what you need to support the product anyway.  Then you won’t have to worry about counterfeits.”

On the surface and if you are only worried about supporting your own designs, this could be one legacy management strategy.  However, OEMs know building in to-be-discontinued parts is a fast way to upset loyal customers.  It is a product manager’s nightmare be handed a last time buy (LTB) or end-of-life (EOL) notice for components on a board they just released.

And, who wants to be told that they’re going to have to face the risks of overstocking to support a product they just bought (or even worse, just sold)?

By the time an engineer gets a system design approved, the reality is that components will be in various stages of their own lifecycle and you can’t just always get more. To avoid being left with a LTB situation, the sooner a product manager develops a realistic support strategy, the healthier their product line will be.

Kaye & The GDCA Team