In article ,
Jeff Liebermann wrote:

As for controlling product lifetime, it's been here for quite a while.
Semiconductor life can be predicted based on the number of thermal
cycles. Electrolytic capacitor life can be predicted by a combination
of temperature and operating conditions. Battery lifetimes are well
known and controllable. High power LED's have a predictable lifetime.
I've seen products (i.e. old Sony TV's and monitors) that seem to have
had components selected for a specific target lifetime. Modeling
programs make such designs fairly easy.

Henry Ford ("Ford: The Men and the Machine" is an outstanding book, but
don't waste your time with the movie) sent roving teams of engineers out
to the junkyards of America to dismantle junked Fords and see which
parts were still good. One thing they couldn't find was a worn-out
kingpin, so Ford started making them lighter and cheaper. No sense
having a kingpin outlive the car. That was close to 100 years ago.