Hello, you have raised a very interesting point. I believe that this cycle happens for all kinds of products. However as you mention, for some of them it’s really hard to see their decline. I think that all products will decline in the market, but that declination will vary in a proportional way to the market’s need. For example: The products that we used in our daily life tend to decline in a very slow way because we all require them every day so the need for them is huge. An example for this could be forks, knifes and other home products. Let’s consider the forks and knifes, the decline for these product will stop (reach 0) whenever humans don’t need the hands to eat. Although the example I have provided is not related to Biomedical Engineering, the same concept would apply to the BME industry.

Let me know what you think about this,

Sincerely,
Roberto Pineda.

A tend to agree with Roberto in my thinking that all products, regardless of need, undergo their respective life cycles. Most products will go through their cycles at a pretty ‘normal’ rate compared to niche and staple products. Highly specialized ‘fad’ products will rise and fall relatively quickly (silly bands) vs a cultural staple (corn). However, if we step back from each and look at their overall life cycles, the animal shaped rubber bands life cycle has already came and went while the corn life cycle is still occurring. Eventually, even the need for corn will expire though either humans transcending the need for its nourishment or a radical new substitute product resulting in corn’s eventual decline. The takeaway message being that all products undergo a lifecycle, even if it their decline is not immediately foreseeable in the present.

I disagree with the argument that some products do not seem to enter the Decline phase of their life cycle. Instead, the actual need does not decline while the product can get replaced with one that is more technologically advanced, more creative, and/or fulfills an additional need that the original product lacked to provide. For the suture example, the need to close a wound or incision after surgery remains however the product to do this has changed. Initially this was done with metal staples, which were replaced with the more biocompatible synthetic sutures, which are now being replaced with biodegradable sutures for internal tissues, which will in future be replaced with some sort of sealant gel. I also disagree that staple products take longer to run through their life cycles. Essential product do not offer very much differentiation (sugar is sugar, water is water) but they do compete on a price level. A water brand that is too expensive is expected to enter the Decline phase rather quickly. The evidence of this is that these staple products are still, continually being marketed. Basically, all products can decline.

It's really a good come up. But I disagree with this point. Yes they are in natural progression and the market will retain this products. But truth is people prefer to the products which are modern, ease of use and cheap. Economical and technical goals compete for every product and the product get to fall at one point when the better one comes. This is the wholesome truth. No products will retain its crest at the market. Competitive world will always leads to the regression of a particular product. We can relate this to the Darwin's theory Survival of the Fittest. The more ambitious creature survives when compared to others. This is the exact definition for the market also. At one point when there comes a point of reduction in the usage of particular product the product will get vanished. For instance. Floppy disc is used by us during decades ago. Yeah still it can be used and no harm in that. But we go for the better options. So future generations will know that there was a thing called floppy disc they would never get a chance to see it virtually in markets. So I totally disagree with your point

That is true Roberto. It definitely depends on the product, but I agree that they will all go through the life-cycle. This however can extend over various durations as the product may be difficult to replace or not as susceptible to technological advancements.An example of this is adhesive bandages, band-aids. Though fabrics, adhesives and other components may change they still are the same underlying device. Their decline is unlikely, but may be affected by technological advancements such as the failed liquid bandages.

-Romany

I agree with Roberto’s point. Every product has its own respective life cycle. However, durations of each phase will vary depending on the product. From your prompt, you mentioned sutures. Although the general concept of sutures have not changed, the method at which it is administered has greatly varied. Back then, they used ants as a way to seal cuts and incisions, nowadays biocompatible stitching is incorporated and even cauterizing methods are implemented during surgery, thus eliminating the need for a suture. This shows that there is a decline in the need for sutures. It is similar to the idea of having a refrigerator. The idea of the refrigerator has been in existence for a long time and the use of it I widespread till this day. It is basically present in every house. However, the method of keeping food fresh was different back then when they buried it in the cold ground. In the past couple of years, there have been numerous modifications to the original design of the refrigerator. This could be classified under the maturity phase of a product but again, I believe that it should be each design that should be evaluated.

I tend to agree with Agnieszka's assessment of product life cycles. While the need does not decline, the product that fulfills it will eventually go through all the phases of its life cycle, including decline. While it can be argued that even such basic staples of everyday life may not seem to go into decline, careful analysis does show that there are always new market entries. What allows for these new market entries is the shifting social and technological climates. As new consumer needs emerge (such as environmentally friendly products) and new technologies (semiconductor technology improving microprocessors) an opening appears for new products to enter into the fray. And the success of said new entry can expedite the decline of another established product.

I agree with Roberts’s opinion that every product has its Life Cycle in which the product undergoes different phase such as Development, Introduction, Growth, Maturity, and Decline. It all depends on how accurately the product satisfies the customer needs and the market. An example of sutures is a great example to show different variation it has been through the life cycle. Another example is pencil; there have been many variations in pencil, such as lead pencils and then mechanical pencils. It is basically used by all the kids as they begin their academic career. However, the design has changes a lot. Nowadays, most kids are reducing the regular pencils to mechanical pencils, thus declining the need of sharpener. All in all, I believe multiple phase in the life cycle of a product that makes it a successful or unsuccessful.

It unquestionably relies on upon the item, however I concur that they will all experience the life-cycle. This however can stretch out over different lengths as the item might be hard to supplant or not as helpless to innovative advancements.An case of this is glue gauzes, band-helps. In spite of the fact that textures, glues and different segments may transform despite everything they are the same basic gadget. Their decrease is impossible, however might be influenced by innovative headways, for example, the fizzled fluid swathes.

I disagree that some products don't decline, every product has a life cycle as mentioned by Dr. Simon and hence there is a decline in the sale of the product once a good alternative comes in the picture.
In this case, sutures have been used for a long long time, now we have biodegradable sutures in the market that is widely used. Recently a company called Zipline Medical have come up with a suture-like alternative for small wounds so there you go an alternative to sutures have been found.

I agree with this point, I think that at some point, there will be a decline in a certain product: it is only a matter of time of when that is. When something replaces the product in having better use and effectiveness, the prior product will fade to usher in the reign of the new one. Taking the suture market itself as others have, there are so many examples of this. Sutures made of animal intestines used to be what every surgeon used for their surgeries in early development of sutures. Then there came the development of synthetic sutures which has been rapidly replacing the amount of surgeons using gut sutures (most of the remnant that use gut sutures are people who just use it because they are used to them). Coming into the market not too long ago have been absorbable sutures (which don't neccesarily replace as they fill a different need, but replace non ones in that market), and fairly recently have been introduced to sutures that have antibacterial agents in them. These newer sutures keep surgical site infections down more than regular sutures, which would likely lead to these newer ones replacing the old. Almost always, old products are replaced with newer more effective ones. It is just a matter of time.

I believe that all products go through a decline cycle. I'm thinking how technology seems to evolve in terms of phones. Phones themselves are always in high demand and the use of phones has actually increased over the years. However phones are constantly updated and new generations are introduced to the market. This is how they stay relevant. Demand for older phone generations start to decline. In terms of your suture example, sutures overall have not declined in demand but individual models or suture types might have become outdated and gone through the decline cycle. As technology evolves and better materials are found, products will be replaced by better and newer and older products will fade into the background or become discontinued.

This is my interpretation of the original post on this thread.

While some products age different than others, i think this results from how much innovation is possible. Sutures are very simple in that it is basically just nylon wire. There is not much that can be improved on this. In the future someone could create a suture string which is coated with a healing agent but besides that we have reached an innovation plateau with that product. This is not the same with a lot of different types of products as technology and science allow us to incorporate so many more benefits and features into the same product. As long as people can keep up with these changes then their product will have a long and successful life or be overrun by companies who develop these changes first.

Product life cycle management is the succession of strategies by business management as a product goes through its life cycle. The life cycle of a product is associated with marketing and management decisions within business. The concept of product life cycle concerns the life of a product in the market with respect to business costs and sales measures. The product life cycle proceeds through multiple phases, involves many professional disciplines, and require many skills, tools and processes.