Life Cycle Policy
We are constantly improving our products and services in order to offer our customers the best quality standard. In order to keep this high quality level and to let innovation grow it is of course necessary to replace outdated parts or products by more efficient components. The announcement of discontinuation of a component or product is also part of this innovation process.
But our customers can be assured that voestalpine Signaling Siershahn GmbH will not remove any product or product family from the Active Sales until an equivalent replacement is available.
Once a product has been removed from active sale, we will continue to support the product for at least 10 years – although exceptions to this may occur if components or technologies needed are no longer available to voestalpine Signaling Siershahn GmbH.
Life Cycle Management - 4 Phases
The life cycle management model divides a product's life cycle into four phases:
- Active
- Classic
- Limited
- Obsolete
Each phase has different implications for the end user in terms of services and support provided.
All control systems effectively remain in Active phase, with individual component products (hardware and software) transitioning through the lifecycle phases of Active, Classic, Limited, and Obsolete as they are superseded by newer technologies and offerings.
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The initial Active phase is entered when a product is released for sale and is actively marketed for new installations and projects. The length of time for Active classification is dependent on market conditions, technology advances, and hardware and software component availability to voestalpine Signaling Siershahn GmbH.
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The second phase of the life cycle is the Classic phase. Typical product maintenance in this phase is limited to product changes due to vendor obsolescence of components, or any serious latent problems that have a major impact on product operation.
During this phase customers can take advantages of the complete range of voestalpine Signaling Siershahn GmbH life cycle services, spare parts, and maintenance materials. In addition to offerings available in Active phase, end users may evolve to new technology by using upgrade and retrofit solutions providing improved performance and extension of the lifecycle.
LAST BUY is a sub-phase within the Classic phase. Product management will issue a notice that the product will be moving to the LAST BUY phase.
This notice will be sent at least 12 months in advance of the transition, but may have to be shorter for reasons such as short notification from our vendors. LAST BUY is immediately followed by MANUFACTURING END. At this point all support and manufacturing by product organization is ended. Exceptions may occur if software and hardware components or technologies are no longer economically available to voestalpine Signaling Siershahn GmbH.
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The third phase of the lifecycle is the Limited phase.
Support in the Limited phase is typically limited to field service, workshop repair and refurbished spare parts.
End users are recommended to start planning to evolve to new technology before product support ceases.
Spare part services continue as long as components and materials are available, and throughout the course of time the use of reconditioned parts increases.
All of these services are on a best effort basis and provided as long as it is both technically and commercially feasible to do so. The length of this support phase may be enhanced by the active return of valuable hardware.
A flexible Classic to Limited transition is used where the volume of the actual hardware part will determine the transition point in time. The combined Classic and Limited support time is targeted to be 10 years from when the product was made classic.
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The fourth phase of the life cycle is the Obsolete phase which is entered when voestalpine Signaling Siershahn GmbH decides that it is no longer capable of supporting the product technically or that it is no longer commercially feasible to do so. A notice will be issued at least 6 months prior to the start of the Obsolete phase.