How to Sunset a Product in Manufacturing with Examples

Most manufacturers can create a product launch plan quickly, but far fewer can outline how to sunset a product with that same level of clarity. A legacy product that lingers in the portfolio consumes capital, limits focus, and increases service complexity across regions and sales channels.

A structured product sunset is a profitability lever rather than an operational risk. This guide explains the executive case, a step-by-step sunsetting process, and real examples that demonstrate how manufacturers can protect margins, strengthen customer relationships, and free resources for new initiatives while maintaining a smooth transition for existing customers.

What is a Product Sunset in Manufacturing?

Manufacturers often delay end of life decisions because the cost of change is visible, while the cost of inaction stays hidden inside warranty exposure, aging technology, and rising service workloads. An accurate view of lifecycle economics gives leaders the information they need to make a strategic decision grounded in financial analysis, customer needs, and market demand.

Visibility into product performance, warranty liabilities, and parts obsolescence helps leadership act with confidence. Insights from product management teams and customer feedback also guide whether a legacy product still serves the target market or if changing market dynamics signal that it is time to sunset a product.

Older SKUs often increase per-unit costs through small-batch runs, expedite fees, and vendor MOQs. Sustaining engineering and recurring support tickets strain internal teams, reducing bandwidth for high-growth programs. These issues compound until the entire portfolio begins to suffer.

When End-of-Life Creates Value Instead of Risk

An industrial machinery manufacturer highlighted in EY’s analysis on maximizing ROI in advanced manufacturing modeled the financial impact of retiring an aging controller. Through a thorough financial analysis and phased retirement plan, the company freed engineering hours, reduced lifecycle support costs, and improved portfolio profitability.

Research from Forrester on Strategic Portfolio Management shows that organizations using structured retirement checkpoints successfully reallocate resources, improve product performance metrics, and strengthen strategic alignment across product teams.

These examples demonstrate how a clear path forward in the EOL plan can lift margins, reduce technical debt, and protect the company's reputation.

How to Sunset a Product: A Strategic Framework

Knowing how to sunset a product requires a coordinated, cross-functional program that aligns finance, product, engineering, supply chain, legal, sales, customer success, and service. Treat the process like a launch by defining business outcomes, tracking leading indicators, and coordinating dependencies across hardware and software.

Below is a structured approach to guide decision making and maintain stability throughout the transition period.

1. Build the Business Case

Evaluate whether a particular product continues generating sufficient revenue, meets customer preferences, and aligns with the target audience. The business case should include:

• Full lifecycle costs

• Warranty exposure

• Inventory liabilities

• Cost-benefit calculations

• Opportunity cost of continued support

• Usage statistics and number of active users

This stage also includes analyzing market dynamics, market trends, and whether outdated technology is limiting growth.

2. Stand Up EOL Governance

Create quarterly governance reviews led by finance, product, engineering, and supply chain. Define clear exit criteria for:

• Design freeze

• Last-time buy

• Last ship

• End-of-support

• Migration plans

These checkpoints help key stakeholders stay on the same page and ensure the sunsetting process remains aligned with corporate strategy.

3. Map the Installed Base and Commitments

Segment customers by region, channel, industry, and regulatory constraints. Identify:

• Contractual obligations

• Service-level agreements

• Components required for continued support

• Compliance needs for the life cycle of the product

A clear understanding of the customer base informs timelines and reduces risk in the transition process.

4. Plan Supply Chain Draw-Down

Work with suppliers to set last-time buy windows, refurbishment paths, and spare-parts plans. Coordinating draw-down protects availability without creating excess inventory. This reduces risk, prevents last-minute disruptions, and supports a smooth transition for existing customers.

5. Sequence Replacement Launches

Ensure successor products or alternative solutions are ready before retirement. Validate:

• Feature parity

• Upgrade training

• Component compatibility

• Installation requirements

• Ability to address the same problem

A successor release should answer customer sentiment concerns and strengthen customer satisfaction through improved functionality.

6. Execute a Clear Communication Plan

A transparent communication plan informs customers, distributors, and service partners about key milestones. Communicate:

• Last order, ship, and support dates

• Upgrade paths

• Training options

• Replacement product comparisons

• Regional requirements

Use multiple communication channels to maintain trust and uphold the company's commitment to customer success.

7. Address Legal and Compliance Early

Confirm regulatory reporting, certifications, and eco-design obligations. Establish:

• Take-back programs

• Recycling plans

• Data-retention requirements

• Warranty boundaries

Early attention prevents last-minute legal obstacles and improves overall execution.

8. Instrument KPIs and Risks

Track leading metrics such as:

• Inventory draw-down velocity

• Upgrade attach rates

• Customer migration pace

• Service backlog

• Sales figures during phase-out

Escalate risks early so teams can adjust timelines before issues escalate.

Manufacturers that approach EOL with discipline often outperform. A European appliance maker profiled in the World Manufacturing Foundation’s 2024 report tied its retirement plan to eco-design rules and reduced end-of-life scrap while achieving high upgrade adoption.

Governance improves even more when organizations streamline their roadmap operations. Gocious showcases how manufacturers can improve their roadmap management strategy by standardizing risk reviews and connecting portfolio decisions to outcomes.

How to Sunset a Product Without Losing Customers

Retention depends on how supported customers feel during retirement. Focus on high-value and regulated accounts first, where configuration complexity and audit requirements are highest.

Offer upgrade bundles that reduce switching costs. Emphasize performance, reliability, and energy-efficiency improvements compared to the legacy product. Keep the knowledge base updated so customers can easily understand how the successor product meets their needs.

Leading KPIs to Watch

• Customer migration rate

• Service backlog trend

• Inventory depletion

• Adoption of upgrade bundles

Operationalizing EOL With Connected Roadmap Intelligence

Spreadsheet planning becomes unreliable once products expand across regions, variants, and mixed hardware-software dependencies. Manufacturers need connected roadmap intelligence that integrates product, supply chain, engineering, and service data.

Gocious provides a portfolio-focused roadmap platform designed for manufacturing. It connects product roadmap software, dependency mapping, and stage-gate governance so cross-functional teams stay aligned throughout the sunsetting process.

The Gocious feature release roadmap helps teams visualize release dates, retirement timelines, and successor plans in one place. This structure keeps internal stakeholders aligned and reduces execution risk. Leaders can also explore real-world roadmap examples to see patterns that scale across multiple products and complex portfolios.

For organizations that need a connected planning system, Gocious offers roadmap software for manufacturing teams that centralizes planning, retirement decisions, governance workflows, and dependency tracking.

Make Your Next EOL a Growth Move

Understanding how to sunset a product is now a strategic advantage for manufacturers. A disciplined program reduces scrap, frees engineering capacity, and keeps the portfolio aligned with corporate strategy, all while maintaining strong customer relationships.

To modernize portfolio planning and streamline the process from feature release to retirement, explore how manufacturing product roadmap software supports every step.

Frequently Asked Questions