🌱 What is physical or built-in obsolescence?
“Through physical or built-in obsolescence, the durability of a product is reduced to ensure that customers “will have to repurchase more often”.”[i] “Built-in obsolescence is an industrial design policy that ensures that the useable lifespan of the product being designed is limited and it is the most direct form of planned obsolescence.”[ii] “Typically, the technical form of obsolescence occurs when components of a product are designed to fail or break, before the whole product would be expected or predicted to break down. Physical or built-in obsolescence involves the “development and incorporation of functionally fragile components leading to premature malfunction”. In other words, the product is designed to fail or wear down sooner than it could or should do.”[iii]
🌱 How does built-in obsolescence limit repairs?
“Designing products in a manner that limits or impairs repair is also a common form of physical or built-in obsolescence. When conditions for a repair – such as the availability and price of replacement parts, the complexity of the product design or accessibility to the location that needs repair, and the costs of repair serves – are (made) unfavorable, the disposal of consumer electronics is encouraged.”[iv]
🌱 How can broken parts lead to obsolescence?
“[M]any of the electronic parts that compose a product have a life cycle that is significantly shorter than the life cycle of the product.”[v] “The discontinuation of spare parts’ production can lead to a “life cycle mismatch between the parts and the product” and therewith the obsolescence of electronic appliances.”[vi] “A dropping demand for the spare parts or limited access to or availability of the materials and/or technologies needed to make the spare parts are key causes for the discontinuation in production.”[vii]
🌱 What are part and product obsolescence?
“The durability and recyclability of the newer products is based on designers’ and engineers’ decisions on product components or materials.”[viii] “Part obsolescence is commonly the cause of product obsolescence.”[ix] “The “life cycle mismatch between the parts and the product” will occur, unless a product upholds the market for spare parts or the product is designed to have a short life. If a product can be disassembled in order to replace a broken part, the unattainability of the spare part will directly shorten the product’s lifespan – although the product would otherwise still be fully operational.”[x]
This post is based on Christine Nikander’s research on e-waste and planned obsolescence at Leiden University College The Hague in 2015-2016. It entails extracts from her thesis titled “E-Waste Trafficking as an Environmental Crime: Countering the Transboundary Movement of E-waste by Legally Limiting Planned Obsolescence”. This content is protected by Dutch copyright law (©2016 by Christine Nikander) and all rights are reserved.
[i] Jeremy Bulow, “An Economic Theory of Planned Obsolescence”, https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/262438/1/wp036.pdf, 729, 734; Christine Nikander, “E-Waste Trafficking as an Environmental Crime: Countering the Transboundary Movement of E-waste by Legally Limiting Planned Obsolescence”, https://hdl.handle.net/1887/60627, 34.
[ii] Naresh K. Malhotra, “Planned Obsolescence” in “e-Study Guide for Basic Marketing Research” (2016); Joseph Guiltinan, “Creative Destruction and Destructive Creations: Environmental Ethics and Planned Obsolescence”, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-008-9907-9, 20; Christine Nikander, “E-Waste Trafficking as an Environmental Crime: Countering the Transboundary Movement of E-waste by Legally Limiting Planned Obsolescence”, https://hdl.handle.net/1887/60627, 34.
[iii] Neil Maycroft, “Consumption, planned obsolescence and waste”, https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/56229.pdf, 3, 16; Christine Nikander, “E-Waste Trafficking as an Environmental Crime: Countering the Transboundary Movement of E-waste by Legally Limiting Planned Obsolescence”, https://hdl.handle.net/1887/60627, 35.
[iv] Joseph Guiltinan, “Creative Destruction and Destructive Creations: Environmental Ethics and Planned Obsolescence”, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-008-9907-9, 20; Christine Nikander, “E-Waste Trafficking as an Environmental Crime: Countering the Transboundary Movement of E-waste by Legally Limiting Planned Obsolescence”, https://hdl.handle.net/1887/60627, 35.
[v] Rajeev Solomon, Peter Sandborn, and Michael Pecht, “Electronic Part Life Cycle Concepts and Obsolescence Forecasting”, http://enme.umd.edu/ESCML/Papers/ObsCPMT.pdf, 1; Christine Nikander, “E-Waste Trafficking as an Environmental Crime: Countering the Transboundary Movement of E-waste by Legally Limiting Planned Obsolescence”, https://hdl.handle.net/1887/60627, 39.
[vi] Rajeev Solomon, Peter Sandborn, and Michael Pecht. "Electronic Part Life Cycle Concepts and Obsolescence Forecasting", http://enme.umd.edu/ESCML/Papers/ObsCPMT.pdf, 1; Christine Nikander, “E-Waste Trafficking as an Environmental Crime: Countering the Transboundary Movement of E-waste by Legally Limiting Planned Obsolescence”, https://hdl.handle.net/1887/60627, 39.
[vii] Rajeev Solomon, Peter Sandborn, and Michael Pecht, “Electronic Part Life Cycle Concepts and Obsolescence Forecasting”, http://enme.umd.edu/ESCML/Papers/ObsCPMT.pdf, 1; Christine Nikander, “E-Waste Trafficking as an Environmental Crime: Countering the Transboundary Movement of E-waste by Legally Limiting Planned Obsolescence”, https://hdl.handle.net/1887/60627, 39.
[viii] Joseph Guiltinan, “Creative Destruction and Destructive Creations: Environmental Ethics and Planned Obsolescence”, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-008-9907-9, 20; Christine Nikander, “E-Waste Trafficking as an Environmental Crime: Countering the Transboundary Movement of E-waste by Legally Limiting Planned Obsolescence”, https://hdl.handle.net/1887/60627, 39.
[ix] Rajeev Solomon, Peter Sandborn, and Michael Pecht, “Electronic Part Life Cycle Concepts and Obsolescence Forecasting”, http://enme.umd.edu/ESCML/Papers/ObsCPMT.pdf, 2; Christine Nikander, “E-Waste Trafficking as an Environmental Crime: Countering the Transboundary Movement of E-waste by Legally Limiting Planned Obsolescence”, https://hdl.handle.net/1887/60627, 39.
[x] Rajeev Solomon, Peter Sandborn, and Michael Pecht, “Electronic Part Life Cycle Concepts and Obsolescence Forecasting”, http://enme.umd.edu/ESCML/Papers/ObsCPMT.pdf, 1, 2; Christine Nikander, “E-Waste Trafficking as an Environmental Crime: Countering the Transboundary Movement of E-waste by Legally Limiting Planned Obsolescence”, https://hdl.handle.net/1887/60627, 39.