PARTsolutions Parts Management Platform Featured in Micro Manufacturing Magazine

PARTsolutions Strategic Parts Management platform has been utilized by manufacturers worldwide to streamline their engineering processes, by enabling their users to find, reuse and control standard parts in ways they never could before.

For large OEM’s this is a no-brainier, they are specifying large, off-the-shelf and custom products for their even larger final designs and assemblies. But there are many other applications which see immediate benefits from a comprehensive parts management strategy, including small and “micro” parts for electronic applications.

PARTsolutions has thousands of specialized components which electrical manufacturer’s can configure and spec into their designs, which is why Micro Manufactuiring Magazine has selected PARTsolutions SPM as a technical feature.

Parts Management Platform Provides Multiple Benefits

By Alan Richter, Micro Manufacturing Magazine

OEMs that implement a parts management strategy and system save design time, focus their time on design functions that matter, speed up product development and time to market, let their part suppliers do the part updating work and gain purchasing power, according to CADENAS PARTsolutions LLC, Cincinnati. The company provides digital parts catalogs with interactive 3D-CAD-model downloads and standard parts management platforms for engineering teams.

“Parts management helps to lock down and control what designers can actually spec, be it from a preferred supplier or based on price or material,” said company CEO Tim Thomas, adding that there are numerous other factors to consider when adopting a parts management strategy.

Without effective parts management, an OEM may not be aware of the suppliers that can source the needed parts, creating a “rogue environment,” Thomas said. This scenario can allow design engineers to inadvertently introduce duplicate and bogus parts into a design.

He explained that the company has two focus points: Help part suppliers sell more product by creating digital, searchable catalogs so they can reach a broader audience, and help OEMs reduce design costs by enabling them to understand where they get the “most bang for the buck” on the parts they are specifying. For example, instead of 10 designers in an engineering group specifying parts from multiple suppliers, a parts management system guides them so they select from the same preferred supplier and the OEM gets a volume discount.

According to the company, parts covered in a parts management system include industry standard parts, supplier standard parts, and company standard parts. A company standard part is one OEMs make internally rather than buy. A supplier standard part is externally sourced to fulfill a standard function. An industry standard part is typically an item manufactured in accordance with specifications and inspected for conformance by a standards body. Such a part is sometimes called a “commodity part” and is sourced from various suppliers, with selection frequently driven by price and availability.

“A guy designing some large piece of industrial machinery has access to literally millions of parts through our parts management platform that he doesn’t have to redesign himself,” said Adam Beck, the company’s marketing manager.