ABB has developed a drive life cycle management model aimed at providing proactive services for maximizing availability and performance. It follows a four-phase model for managing life cycles of its drives. The aim is to enhance customer support and improve plant efficiency.

Benefits of life cycle management

Life cycle management maximizes the value of the drive and its maintenance investments by:

– ensuring spare parts and ABB competence availability throughout the lifetime

– enabling efficient product support and maintenance for improved reliability

– adding functionality to the initial product by upgrading or retrofitting

– providing a smooth transition to new technology at the end of the product lifetime

The model divides a product’s life cycle into four phases: active, classic, limited and obsolete, and each phase has different implications for the end-user in terms of services provided. The model provides optimal life support to end-users and a smooth transition to a new drive when the drive nears the end of its lifetime.

Active phase

The active phase starts when the drive is launched. In the active phase, the end-user benefits from different warranty options and other services such as training and technical support including drive adjustment for optimum performance.  Complete life cycle services from spare parts and preventive maintenance to retrofits and service contracts are also provided. The active phase ends when the volume production of the drive ceases. ABB issues an announcement of the life cycle phase change.

Classic phase

ABB drive users continue to benefit from complete life cycle services throughout the classic phase. The classic phase is closely aligned with ABB’s research and development work to provide continuing support for drives while developing future drive generations. In the classic phase, new drive hardware and software development may be required to provide the maintenance techniques and upgrades needed to guarantee that the drive continues to operate at its peak performance.

The ABB drive maintenance is straightforward. By following ABB’s maintenance schedules, life cycle costs can usually be minimized. Maintenance schedules, which are available for every drive, are based on ABB’s four decades of experience in frequency converter technology. Drive upgrades and retrofits improve performance and extend the drive lifetime.

Should there be any changes in the availability of services for the drive, ABB issues a life cycle announcement.  This way the end-users are kept fully informed.  To ensure the availability of complete life cycle services, ABB recommends that a drive is kept in the active or classic phase of the life cycle. The drive can be kept in the active or classic phase by upgrading, retrofitting or replacing.

Limited phase

In the limited phase, the product development has come to its end. Spare parts are available if components and materials can be obtained. Towards the end of the limited phase, services gradually become obsolete. In addition to the annual life cycle status reviews, ABB issues a life cycle phase change announcement, half a year prior the product becoming obsolete. This is the last opportunity to transfer to new technology before product services end.

Obsolete phase

The ABB drive is transferred to the obsolete phase when it is no longer possible to provide services at reasonable cost, or when ABB can no longer support the product technically, or the old technology is not available.

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