From “End-of-Life” to “Extended-Life”: A Practical Playbook for ABB Product Obsolescence

v Body
Every production line, sooner or later, runs into the “aging-parts” problem—even when the nameplate reads ABB, Siemens, or Lenze.

Technology moves too fast for any manufacturer to keep every legacy model on the drawing board forever.

ABB has turned this reality into a four-stage Lifecycle Policy that clearly stamps an expiry date on every device.

Master those four words and you will save more money and downtime than any last-minute fire drill ever could.

v The ABB Lifecycle Map
• Active – The product is brand-new on the market: firmware upgrades, spare parts, and full technical support are all on tap.
• Classic – Still fully supported, but the next generation is already in the lab.
• Limited – Development stops; spare parts ship only “while supplies last.”
• Obsolete – ABB declares the device “uneconomical to support,” and documentation begins to disappear.

Tape this map to the wall and you can instantly see which machines are drifting toward the “Obsolete” zone.

v Who’s Already Standing at the Exit Door?
• The Brain – Advant Controller family (AC450, AC110) – yesterday’s control-room hero, now superseded by 800xA.
• The Muscle – ACS 600 drive family – once the pioneer of Direct Torque Control (DTC). As of 1 Jan 2025, the air-cooled multidrive version is officially retired; the baton has passed to the ACS880.
• The Nerves – S4C / S4C+ robot controllers – ABB has not yet published an “end-of-life” bulletin, but IRC5 and OmniCore are already waiting in the wings.

v End-of-Life ≠ End-of-Line: Five Field-Tested Tactics

1.Build a “Lifetime Radar”
Log every critical device in a CMMS database: model, purchase date, official retirement notice, and a planned replacement. Scan it quarterly and trigger an alert 12 months ahead.

2.Tap a “Parts Bank”
Once the factory stops production, inventory evaporates like water in a desert. Partner with an automation-parts supplier that sources globally; you can have a “discontinued” module on-site in 24–48 hours.

3.Remanufacture & Refurbish
Disassemble, clean, replace worn components, reassemble, and retest. A remanufactured unit can deliver 90 % of new-part reliability at 30–50 % lower cost.

4.Right-Size Safety Stock
Stock ≠ hoard. Use a simple formula:
Safety Stock = (Annual Failure Rate × Downtime Cost Per Hour × Procurement Lead Time) ÷ Part Price
Then decide how many units you really need to stash.

5.Repairability Diagnostics
Send retired units to a third-party lab. If the faults are limited to standard consumables—capacitors, fans, relays—repairs succeed 80 % of the time and can add five extra years of service.

v Case Study – Zero-Downtime Migration from ACS600
A European chemical plant had 22 ACS600 drives facing retirement in 2025. The project team kicked off an 18-month migration plan:
• Months 1–3 – Reserved 10 remanufactured ACS600 units as “hot spares” via EU Automation.
• Months 4–9 – Performed I/O compatibility tests and rewrote the PLC communication blocks for ACS880 drives.
• Months 10–15 – Executed phased change-outs during weekend maintenance windows, two to three drives at a time.
• Months 16–18 – Collected the old ACS600 units for bulk remanufacture; the resale value offset 12 % of the new hardware cost.
Result: zero unplanned downtime and an 18 % budget saving.

v Turn Your “Retirement List” into an “Extension Plan”
A discontinuation notice is not a finish line—it is an invitation to upgrade, cut costs, and boost efficiency.

Start by pinning the four lifecycle stages on your office wall, then roll out the five-step playbook: radar, bank, refurbish, stock, repair. Machines may age, but strategies don’t have to.

With the right lead time and the right partners, even ABB’s “retired” products can keep your line humming for years to come.

Citation

1.https://new.abb.com/docs/librariesprovider123/default-document-library/3bhs885266e01_life-cycle-management.pdf?sfvrsn=bb8c3609_14