London Banter - View Single Post

tim... · October 22nd 16, 09:12 AM posted to uk.transport.london

wrote in message ...
On Thu, 20 Oct 2016 18:56:06 -0500
wrote:
In article , d () wrote:

On Wed, 19 Oct 2016 18:39:46 -0500
wrote:
GTO electronics are seriously obsolete which could, I suspect, make
obtaining further sets quite hard. Note that some Networkers have had
their GTO controls replaced by Hitachi.

Surely if a manufacturer builds a train with a working life probably
exceeding at least 30 years then then should either guarantee a supply
of
parts for that time period or suffer penalties such as swallowing the
cost
of train upgrades if they can't? Even car manufacturers I believe are
by law required to be able to supply parts for their vehicles for a
minimum of 10 years in the USA & EU.

ROFL!

Well that was informative.

The problem with trying to guarantee replacement parts for electronic
components, is that your suppliers wont guarantee supply of their devices
for an extended length of time.

I recall once working on a project where one of the components that had been
selected for the product was obsoleted during the development phase and the
board had to be re-engineered with a newer component.

You can usually expect to get guaranteed supply for 5-7 years out of a
supplier, but more than that and you are stuck having to make alternative
arrangements. You might stretch a repair stock to 10-12 years by buying in
before an item becomes obsolete, but 30 years!

tim