Great designs rarely fail because the engineering was wrong. More often, reality gets in the way: components become obsolete, costs rise, suppliers change, requirements evolve, and budgets get tighter.

This talk explores what happens when a design moves from the drawing board into the real world — and how engineers can design, adapt and redesign for the challenges that inevitably follow.

From making the right choices at the start of a product’s life to dealing with obsolescence years later, we’ll look at the trade-offs between performance, cost, availability, reliability and longevity. Through practical examples and lessons learned, the talk will explore how constraints can drive better engineering decisions, and how a thoughtful approach to lifecycle design can reduce the cost and disruption of change.