"Large" is relative to the number of devices in the field. It's also dependent on the individual parts. It's rare for small-signal devices to fail; high-current devices will fail more often due to junction erosion, insulation failure, etc.
And I can't stress enough that it's virtually impossible to design exclusively around the expected supply life of components. Silicon companies provide advisories and roadmaps, but still will discontinue (or substantially change) a component on very short notice. My company had two high-volume components, a USB transceiver and a regulator, discontinued with NO drop-in replacement within the space of a year. And these were popular components that we alone consumed tens of thousands of per year. We had to ration products and almost ran out while redesigning and qualifying replacements. Look...I am not reflexively defending Flex; I'm not a fan-boy and would be the first to "call B.S." if I thought it was appropriate. But again...I do this for a living and it's getting harder every day to write and execute a product plan that takes into account the shrinking life-cycle of many critical components . Mike Alexander - N8MSA amsct...@comcast.net ----- Original Message ----- From: "Robert Costa, KB6QXM" <kb6...@yahoo.com> To: "Jerry Coufal" <jerr...@comcast.net>, flexradio@flex-radio.biz Sent: Saturday, June 2, 2012 6:18:07 PM Subject: Re: [Flexradio] VU5K End of Production Notice Questions A large number of spares depends on how many units have been sold and the MTBF of the identified spare parts, especially the critical parts that have been discontinued. Not a simple remove and replace, the future of the VU5k will take someone to troubleshoot the problems down to the component level. Oh joy! I just wish that Flex would have designed around the long lead time parts. They did not, so the ones that own the VU5k will have to deal with the circumstance and hope that their module does not fail. 73, Robert KB6QXM "Ham Radio Open Conversation" Yahoo group owner/moderator ----- Reply message ----- From: "Jerry Coufal" <jerr...@comcast.net> To: <flexradio@flex-radio.biz> Subject: [Flexradio] VU5K End of Production Notice Questions Date: Sat, Jun 2, 2012 3:00 pm Neal: It does matter to me. I am curious. We all know what happens to discontinued products all too often sooner than later. Mike: What do you think the quantity of a "large number" of spares" would be? Thanks Jerry _______________ Flex stated that they are not going to make new VU5K assemblies past a final build, but they will keep a "large" number of spares available. So you already have the assurance that you are asking for. And I would also like to point out that the worlds of electronics manufacturing and machine equipment are very different. My company (automotive electronics) struggles mightily to maintain component continuity; we are constantly testing so-called "drop-in" replacements and tweaking designs to adjust to the reality of the components available. Unless you are in the industry, you probably do not have visibility in to how short the life-cycle of particular components can be. Silicon manufacturers compete fiercely, and are constantly "churning" components. There are certainly long-lived components available, but it's almost impossible to build a modern high-performance ANYTHING out of a bunch of "reference" parts. Mike Alexander - N8MSA amsct...@comcast.net ----- Original Message ----- From: "Francisco Viegener" <f...@viegener.com> To: "Neal Campbell" <nealk...@me.com>, "Jerry Coufal" <jerr...@comcast.net> Cc: flexradio@flex-radio.biz Sent: Saturday, June 2, 2012 4:57:59 PM Subject: Re: [Flexradio] VU5K End of Production Notice Questions In my opinion, Flex need to assure to his customers a long time life of all o his product because it is part of his marketing strategy selling SDR products. A Part that cannot be available must be replaced by another, better that the new one, this is always possible, maybe it cost some money but it is possible. I have CNC machines in our factory and at least during 10 years of their life we can get replacement parts for electronic control of them. I think that the 5000A is still less than 10 years old . Anyway I am sure flex will do his best to give us support for this nice transceiver for a long time, so I am not worry at all. Francisco lu3eec Argentina -----Mensaje original----- De: flexradio-boun...@flex-radio.biz [mailto:flexradio-boun...@flex-radio.biz] En nombre de Neal Campbell Enviado el: sábado, 02 de junio de 2012 05:18 p.m. Para: Jerry Coufal CC: flexradio@flex-radio.biz Asunto: Re: [Flexradio] VU5K End of Production Notice Questions Does it really matter which part it is? They have bought a bunch so they can continue to do repairs well into the future as well as sell one last batch. They have announced they are discontinuing the product so a detailed list really doesn't accomplish much. As my wife says, it is what it is (??) 73 Neal On Jun 2, 2012, at 2:13 PM, Jerry Coufal wrote: > Can FlexRadio tell us what component(s) is / are obsolete without > viable replacement(s)? > > > > > > Hopefully this will not happen to the Deep Impact 6700 radios after 15 > months of production. > > > > I'm a gambler and I don't like to lose, but sometimes I do. > > > > Thanks > > > > Jerry _______________________________________________ FlexRadio Systems Mailing List FlexRadio@flex-radio.biz http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexradio_flex-radio.biz Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/flexradio%40flex-radio.biz/ Knowledge Base: http://kc.flexradio.com/ Homepage: http://www.flexradio.com/ _______________________________________________ FlexRadio Systems Mailing List FlexRadio@flex-radio.biz http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexradio_flex-radio.biz Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/flexradio%40flex-radio.biz/ Knowledge Base: http://kc.flexradio.com/ Homepage: http://www.flexradio.com/ _______________________________________________ FlexRadio Systems Mailing List FlexRadio@flex-radio.biz http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexradio_flex-radio.biz Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/flexradio%40flex-radio.biz/ Knowledge Base: http://kc.flexradio.com/ Homepage: http://www.flexradio.com/
