Modelling Obsolescence Resolution Strategies at Thales Hengelo

Thales is a worldwide leader in innovative radar systems used by naval ships and other military systems. Within some contracts with customers, Thales is responsible for keeping the radar systems operational and supply required spare parts for the system. Within these contracts, Thales wants to know the costs for solving obsolescence issues, which occur when an item is no longer available from the original manufacturer. Within this research, a model is formulated and implemented which determines obsolescence management costs for part of a system's lifecycle. Moreover, 2 heuristics are implemented which select logical obsolescence resolution strategies for spare parts turning obsolete. Experiments provide useful insights on how obsolescence resolution costs can be further reduced by Thales.