Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
by 1907, noun of action from cannibalize.
Wiktionary
alt. The act of cannibalizing. n. The act of cannibalizing.
Wikipedia
Cannibalization of machine parts, in maintenance of mechanical or electronic systems with interchangeable parts, refers to the practice of removing parts or subsystems necessary for repair from another similar device, rather than from inventory, usually when resources become limited. The source system is usually crippled as a result, if only temporarily, in order to allow the recipient device to function properly again.
Cannibalization is usually due to unavailability of spare parts, due to an emergency, long resupply times, physical distance, or insufficient planning or budget. Cannibalization can also be due to surplus inventory. At the end of World War II a large quantity of high quality, but unusable war surplus equipment such as radar devices made a ready source of parts to build radio equipment.
In marketing strategy, cannibalization refers to a reduction in sales volume, sales revenue, or market share of one product as a result of the introduction of a new product by the same producer.
Usage examples of "cannibalization".
The regime worked diligently to repair basic services and infrastructure and did so in a matter of months, albeit largely by a policy of cannibalization that it could not sustain.
After everyone had been awakened and transported downstairs, and all the gear shipped down as well, cannibalization had begun.
At the bottom of the page, under the lurid accounts of the killing and the cannibalization of Sister Nunziata, there were accounts of the action taken by the ANC in other sectors of the country.
He was standing now in a large and fairly open interior space, enlarged at some time in the past, he supposed, by the removal of parts for use elsewhere, the cannibalization of redundant units for the front line, wherever that had been.