Reducing Redesign Risk: How a Fortune 100 Firm Saved Over $5M Annually Through Proactive Lifecycle Management

Christoph Horlebein
Mar 7
3 min read

Updated: 3 days ago

The Challenge: Why Do Redesigns Keep Happening?

In 2024 alone, over 185,000 components were discontinued without a Product Discontinuation Notification (PDN), according to Z2Data. This reflects a broader trend: 37% of all obsoleted components vanish annually without prior notice, leaving manufacturers exposed to sudden redesigns, compliance risks, and production delays.

For this Fortune 100 company, the impact was severe:

Cancelled orders with no Last Time Buy (LTB) options
Production stops and costly sourcing efforts
Redesign costs run high—often underestimated due to their distribution across departments and hidden impacts like lost market share and delayed time-to-market

What makes redesigns so expensive? Beyond direct engineering costs, regulated businesses also face:

Stringent Design Control Processes, requiring Validation & Verification (V&V) and testing
Documentation updates and internal training
Extensive Supplier Qualification, including auditing, QMS and certification check
Regulatory submissions and compliance approvals

These costs vary significantly depending on industry regulation and component type. The following list outlines average redesign project expenses:

Passive component (minimally regulated industry): $21,275
Microprocessor (minimally regulated industry): $1,847,300
Passive component (highly regulated industry): $30,825
Microprocessor (highly regulated industry): $33,488,775

These costs spiral quickly—leading to budget overruns, resource strain, and missed market opportunities.

The Solution: Embedding Lifecycle Intelligence

Christoph Horlebein, CEO & Founder, implemented a multi-layered strategy focused on early risk detection, cross-functional integration, and data-driven decision-making.

Design for Resilience: Eliminating Future Risk at the Source

Objective: To proactively eliminate lifecycle and supply chain risks during the early stages of product development—before they could impact cost, compliance, or availability.

Implemented design strategies to avoid components with high lifecycle and supply chain risk in new products.
Established AI/Big Data-powered analytics to identify lifecycle and supply chain risks—helping R&D teams select resilient components from the start.
Implemented multi-sourcing strategies to reduce the dependence on single suppliers, ensuring availability and price stability.

Plan for Obsolescence: Navigating Existing Products Through Unstable Markets

Objective: To manage obsolescence risk in existing product lines through structured planning and data-driven decision-making.

Assessed each component's criticality and mapped its risk exposure to implement mitigation measures such as (supplier) safety stocks.
Created Tombstone charts (Figure 1) to visualize when components will be obsolete, allowing the company to bundle multiple part obsolescences into a single redesign effort.
Planned budgets and resources, avoiding budget overruns and innovation stallings.

The Results: Over $5M in Savings and up to 85% Reduction in Redesign Projects

By shifting from reactive firefighting to strategic product risk management, the company achieved:

85% reduction in redesign projects for new products through proactive and data-driven component selection.
75% reduction in reactive redesign projects for existing products by combining obsolescence initiatives.
Reduced time-to-market delays by streamlining component selection.
Total: Redesign project reduction of 85% (NPI) and 75% (existing product), with over $5M saved annually in redesign cost.

Key Takeaway: Why Every Manufacturer Needs to Act Now

37% of all obsoleted components disappear without warning.
Redesigns are not only costly—they also result in market share losses, drain resources, delay product launches, and reduce profitability.
Proactive obsolescence management, powered by AI-driven intelligence eliminates costs and increases operational resilience.

Redesigns are not just an engineering issue—they are a strategic risk. By embedding lifecycle intelligence into the design process, manufacturers can shift from reactive problem-solving to proactive value creation.

At Horlebein Consulting, we help global manufacturers future-proof their product strategies—before the next disruption hits.

Contact us to learn how your company can achieve similar results.