Resolving Siemens SOW Spare Part List Errors on SINAMICS S120 and SIMOVERT MASTERDRIVES

Spare part lookups for SINAMICS S120 and the legacy SIMOVERT MASTERDRIVES (6SE70 / 6SE71) drive platforms routinely fail inside Siemens Spares On Web (SOW) with the well-known "no spare part list available" or "End of product lifecycle" dialog. The failure is not a browser, network, or VPN issue in most cases; it is a lifecycle-status response from the back-end catalog. This article documents both root causes documented in Siemens service feedback (EOPL state and regional portal restriction), maps them to the specific order numbers 6SL3710-1GF32-6AA3, 6SL3320-1TG41-3AA3, and the documented successor 6SL3330-1TG41-4AA3, and provides the engineer-to-engineer procedure to obtain a usable spare parts breakdown for each Siemens drive family.

1. Symptom Summary

The defect pattern when querying SOW for a SINAMICS S120 or MASTERDRIVES BLM (Betriebsmittel / bill of material item) is one of the following messages:

• "This BLM is in state End of product lifecycle since MM/DD/YYYY — No support, spare part or other possible for this part number."
• "No spare part list found for order number 6SL...."
• "SOW is not available in your region" or login prompt that never completes.

The error is returned for both the queried order number and any attempt to drill into the detailed spare-part breakdown view. SOW does not throw a numeric fault code (unlike STARTER or Startdrive), it returns a textual lifecycle banner. Treat that banner as a structured lifecycle state, not as a server failure.

2. Siemens Spares On Web — Tool Architecture

SOW (Spares On Web) is the Siemens-internal and partner-facing catalog application that maps every Siemens Industry MLFB / order number to:

• The hierarchical spare parts catalog (exploded view of the BLM),
• The active phase in the Siemens product lifecycle (PLM/PLP),
• The replacement / successor MLFB chain,
• Stock and lead-time information for SP-CO (spare parts coordination) requests.

SOW is reachable from the Siemens Industry Online Support portal under support.industry.siemens.com → Product Support → Spare parts → Spares On Web. It is also embedded inside the Siemens Industry Mall under the "Spare parts" tab of every configured product.

Access requirements vary by region:

Symptom pattern from the field: a user located outside the EU frequently observes that the SOW URL loads, the order number is accepted, but the response page returns a generic error after authentication. The user in the originating Siemens support case (Christoph, DE) confirmed direct, no-login access. This is the regional access root cause discussed in Section 5.

3. Root Cause #1 — End of Product Lifecycle (EOPL)

Siemens assigns each product one of five lifecycle states. SOW treats EOPL as a hard block on spare-part availability — the catalog entry is preserved for historical reference, but no SP (spare part), repair, or refurbishment service is offered.

The Siemens support response confirmed 6SL3320-1TG41-3AA3 reached EOPL on 07/28/2010. The catalog entry was preserved (so legacy serial numbers can still be looked up) but every downstream service is hard-blocked. This explains why the original query fails while a contemporary BLM such as 6SL3710-1GF32-6AA3 returns a full spare parts breakdown.

4. Root Cause #2 — Regional Access Restriction

SOW is served from the Siemens Industry Online Support regional portals. The MLFB query is routed through the region selected by the URL or by the user's IP geolocation. Symptoms:

• Page loads with a Siemens logo but the order number field is greyed out.
• Login prompt redirects in an infinite loop.
• After login, the catalog returns a generic "Service currently not available in your country." message.

When the access originates from a Chinese IP range without a registered Siemens Industry account, SOW returns the "no spare part list" error even for active MLFBs. The user in the source case observed exactly this pattern: 6SL3710-1GF32-6AA3 worked for the German responder but produced the same error from China. The fix is not VPN-based, it is registration-based on the regional Industry Online Support portal.

Resolution Procedure for Regional Access

1. Navigate to the country-specific portal at support.industry.siemens.com and select the region selector (top-right).
2. Register a Siemens Industry Online Support account with a corporate domain email. Personal email domains are restricted from catalog download in some regions.
3. Request Industry Mall / SOW access under My Profile → Company Authorizations. Approval is typically 24–72 hours.
4. Once authorized, the same MLFB that previously returned "service not available" will resolve to the active spare parts page.

A consumer VPN terminating in Germany does not by itself unlock SOW; SOW checks the authenticated session, not the IP, so account registration is mandatory.

5. Identifying the Affected Siemens Drive Family

The MLFB prefix 6SL3... covers the SINAMICS family. The two affected items in the source case are decoded below. Always confirm the decoded family against the SINAMICS S120 Equipment Manual for the cabinet system version you are maintaining.

The MLFB decoder is a structural pattern: 6SL3 (SINAMICS) + 3 1/3 2/3 3 (line/motor/active function) + 4-digit frame + - + 2-digit rating + - + 3-digit option list + check digit. For MASTERDRIVES legacy items the equivalent prefix is 6SE70.. / 6SE71.. (SIMOVERT MASTERDRIVES VC and MC).

6. Resolution Path A — Successor Product Lookup (EOPL)

When SOW returns the EOPL banner for an MLFB, follow this exact navigation path documented in the Siemens support response:

1. Open support.industry.siemens.com.
2. Click Product Support in the top menu bar.
3. In the "Enter the order number" field, type the original (EOPL) MLFB.
4. The product detail page opens. Locate the field Successor product in the right-hand factsheet.
5. Click the successor MLFB. The detail page now opens for the successor.
6. Click Spare parts in the right-hand factsheet. SOW will now return a full spare parts breakdown for the successor.
7. If the new SOW query errors out, the successor itself has reached EOPL. Repeat the successor search iteratively until an active MLFB is found (the chain is typically 1–3 deep).

For the case at hand, the iteration is:

• Step 1: query 6SL3320-1TG41-3AA3 → EOPL.
• Step 2: from the product page, read successor 6SL3330-1TG41-4AA3 (Siemens support confirmed).
• Step 3: re-query 6SL3330-1TG41-4AA3 in SOW. If active, obtain the spare parts breakdown.

7. Resolution Path B — Direct SP-CO Request

For drive systems where the successor MLFB has a different mechanical footprint, cooling, or DRIVE-CLiQ wiring, a direct spare-parts coordination (SP-CO) request is preferred over a blind catalog lookup. The SP-CO path is the only one that lets Siemens reserve stock from the installed-base pool for BLMs that are no longer in active production but are still serviceable.

1. Open an SP-CO ticket via the Siemens Industry Online Support portal (My Support → Requests → Spare parts request).
2. Provide the original MLFB, the serial number of the physical unit (visible on the nameplate, format ...-...), and the engineering reason (e.g., "motor module failure, drive down, production loss").
3. Siemens SP-CO returns a quote including lead time (typically 4–10 weeks for chassis SINAMICS line/motor modules) and any repair-vs-replace trade-off.

For MASTERDRIVES 6SE70 / 6SE71 units, SP-CO remains viable because Siemens still maintains a repair pool for the installed base even where SOW lists the BLM as EOPL. Specify "MASTERDRIVES repair, not replacement" when filing the request to avoid being routed to the SINAMICS successor.

8. Resolution Path C — Alternative Siemens Tools

When SOW is unreachable due to EOPL or regional restriction, three Siemens tools can reconstruct the spare parts breakdown:

For MASTERDRIVES-to-SINAMICS S120 migrations the Equipment Manual for SIMOVERT MASTERDRIVES (6SE70) plus the SINAMICS S120 function manual FH1 (commissioning) and LH1 (configuration) form the engineering evidence chain. Cross-reference the parameter mapping table in LH1 Appendix C before accepting a successor MLFB.

9. SINAMICS S120 Spare Parts Categories — Reference Table

When the SOW breakdown is finally obtained, the parts fall into six engineering categories. Knowing which category a part falls into determines its lead time and criticality for the maintenance strategy.

10. SOW Navigation Procedure (Step-by-Step Verification)

Use this procedure to confirm that the resolution is complete.

1. Open SOW: From support.industry.siemens.com → Product Support → Spare parts → Spares On Web.
2. Enter the successor MLFB from Step 4 of the successor lookup. Use 6SL3330-1TG41-4AA3 if continuing from the source case.
3. Confirm serial number entry. For active BLMs, SOW prompts for the unit serial number. The serial number is on the right-hand nameplate, formatted as e.g. T-XJ123456 for chassis units.
4. Verify BOM view. The exploded diagram appears on the left; the BOM table on the right. Each line item shows MLFB, designation, and quantity.
5. Export the parts list via the Export → CSV button. Save with a project-specific filename (e.g., S120_ALM_6SL3330-1TG41-4AA3_BOM_2024.csv).
6. Cross-check against the Equipment Manual Appendix A for the same MLFB. If a discrepancy appears, raise an SP-CO clarification request.

11. Lifecycle Phase Reference for SINAMICS S120

The SINAMICS S120 platform has been in service since approximately 2004. Multiple sub-platforms have entered EOPL or successor state:

• SINAMICS S120 chassis (booksize size 1–6): largely active; some frame sizes reached PM300 (phase-out) in 2022–2023.
• SINAMICS S120 chassis format blocks (6SL3310 / 6SL3320 / 6SL3330 series): the older 1TG41 / 1TG42 frame sizes reached EOPL progressively from 2010 onward — directly matching the source-case MLFB.
• SINAMICS S120 cabinet modules (6SL3710): predominantly active as of 2024.
• SINAMICS S150 (6SL3710-...): active; some sub-modules in PM300.

Whenever you see an MLFB with the 1TG... frame block, expect a high likelihood of EOPL. Verify against the current Product Support page before assuming spares availability.

12. MASTERDRIVES (6SE70 / 6SE71) Migration Reference

SIMOVERT MASTERDRIVES VC (current-source / thyristor) and MC (motor converter) entered EOPL years before SINAMICS S120. The migration matrix for the most common frame sizes is:

For MASTERDRIVES spares that have no SOW entry, the practical path is SP-CO for repair-exchange of the CUVC/CUMC boards, or migration to the SINAMICS S120 chassis successor. Do not assume parameter compatibility: the MASTERDRIVES parameter numbers (P###) do not map 1:1 to SINAMICS S120 parameters (P####) — use the migration tool inside SINAMICS S120 LH1 function manual.

13. Verification Checklist

Confirm the following items after applying the resolution:

• The successor MLFB opens in SOW without an EOPL banner.
• The serial number of the unit is accepted (some BLMs require the unit-specific serial, not the generic MLFB).
• The exported BOM contains every replaceable sub-assembly (power module, capacitor bank, fan, control board).
• The successor MLFB has been cross-checked against the cabinet footprint, cooling, and DRIVE-CLiQ topology of the original BLM.
• The user account is registered on the regional Industry Online Support portal if the error was region-related.

14. FAQ