How long do USA auto manufacturers HAVE TO keep parts available ?

[ultrarunner]

On one of our Fluoroscopes under contract the touch screen went out and the couldn't be sourced.

After much wrangling... the manufacturer shipped us a brand new Fluoroscope at a substantial discount.

The Tool and Die where a worked years ago had been in business since the 1930's and was the OEM supplier for several aviation parts and process applications...

Still remember doing special job runs for items going back 50 years...

That all ended when there was a massive fire that burned the plant to the ground... including my tool box that boss was kind enough to let me leave there and still let me come in when I had to repair something for the Hospital where I work.

 

[adventure bob]

There's no requirement for a manufacturer to keep spare parts around. If there was you couldn't afford the old parts. Carrying cost would eat your lunch, then you'd complain about the $400 door handle for the (insert old car here). Remember every part on the shelf cost a manufacturer money to stock and manage. As a guy who owns BMWs the statement that they'll get anything even if they have to make it is absolutely false. Theres tons of parts for 2002s you cant get anymore and BMW certainly aint makin em. That's were companies like Classic Industries find a niche and make a ton of money remanufacturing old parts. But again they aint doing that unless the business model supports the part.

 

[Alan L.]

It is frankly no wonder a main stream pickup is $35 - $40K. The auto industry has so many regulations that other industries don't have it is a wonder there are any manufacturers left.

 

[3930dave]

The olde "Thou shalt replace an entire expensive system, for want of a tiny replacement part" dance works the best if all the players in a given industry are singing that tune.......

Otherwise, it can become a competitive advantage...... all else equal (not a given), I'd argue that the car/truck with an abundance of affordable replacement parts is going to have a higher resale value than ones (otherwise known as scrap metal) that have poor support.

Resale value in industrial systems tends to be a Don't Care issue.... typically it just gets depreciated low enough, then written off.

Rgds, D.

 

[/pine]

Unfortunately the idiotic "cash for clunkers" program removed a lot of worthy used auto parts from the market place...however it did get rid of most of the obama bumper stickers...

 

[3930dave]

I have come across this with $500K manufacturing machinery. The OEM didn't know their supplier had stopped producing certain parts on a 10 year old machine until we went to order these parts. The OEM had one of what we needed in stock and went to order more for their inventory and found they couldn't get the parts. Which they were still using in some of their product, so it was a shock to them also. They informed us of the issue, and we are still working out the solution.

The problem is very few suppliers will agree to produce parts for length of times greater than a year or two.

Two critical aspects of Manufacturing are Documenting your Designs/Maintaining Control of your Intellectual Property, and managing your Supply Chain.

Until the baseline technology disappears (ie. CRTs, and subsequent display tech), then all you have to do is take your properly documented specs/designs, and get some other company to crank it out, if the original supplier folds up.

Whether what is coming in your Manufacturer's door are discrete components, sub-systems, or totally integrated systems, the game doesn't really change much; it's just that the stakes get higher....

If a "Manufacturer" is smart, then they scale up their vigilance of outside suppliers, as that supplier's integration responsibilities scale up. Unfortunately a lot of the time, the opposite happens.

Even people who have only a small collection of tinfoil-hats will wonder how much of this is the olde Create a Crisis to Drive an Agenda game.... One of the Big 3 has said that they want to be just a Marketing Company.... if it Looks Like a Duck, and Quacks Like a Duck..... How much of a priority does a Marketing company place on Parts Continuity ?

Rgds, D.