My company buys millions of dollars of electric components per year. Our products go into potentially explosive locations, so our quality and certification standards are very high.
One requirement put on us by the certification bodies is that we maintain full traceability of parts. We need to know that the chip we bought is the exact same make and model as the one the certification body tested when they examined our product.
Now maintaining this paperwork is a nightmare. We buy dozens of critical components per board, many thousands of boards per year, and all from multiple suppliers. Further compounding the issue, we have multiple sub-contractors around the globe also purchasing components to place on boards for us. For ten years after we ship a product we need to be able to look up Fuse 1 on serial number XYZ123 and know the part came from the part manufacturer listed in the certification document.
I really wish that there was a part supplier that would maintain all of this paperwork for me, and all that I had to do 10 years from now was match up my customer sales order with POs made to get the parts in house. I log into your site, type in my real old PO number, and then BAM, my traceability data shows up, RoHS compliance data shows up, SVHC conformity data shows up, etc.
Extra bonus if I can upload my BOMs to your site and just place POs for top level assemblies, and your servers handle ordering the parts online or sending automated emails/faxes on my behalf with my company letterheard to the parts suppliers.
This is probably way out there to what your business model is. Half of this is venting on my part as I struggle to deal with this major supply chain issue. Someone should start this business. I should start this business.
Dealing with supply chain issues is difficult. Especially when you throw in to the mix the HUGE problem of counterfeit parts in the electronics industry. I know there are some startups working in the PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) space. Feel free to get in touch over email if you want to talk more about this.
I wish there was Octopart UK. Was trying to track down some nice Hall effect sensors to measure wheel speed on a robot I'm working on and bouncing around from vendor to vendor is a mess.
I actually use Octopart as a product catalogue and then find the things it finds in the UK.
We list parts from Premier Farnell which is in the UK and we'd like to get part data RS Components. Who else would you like to see? If you let distributors know that you'd like to see them on Octopart when you make purchases, that would help greatly.
I like the story as well, because it's a nice example of a startup that has nothing to do with social networking, but rather a nicely defined niche (not to say it's a small industry--I know it's huge, I used to be a part of it).
My company buys millions of dollars of electric components per year. Our products go into potentially explosive locations, so our quality and certification standards are very high.
One requirement put on us by the certification bodies is that we maintain full traceability of parts. We need to know that the chip we bought is the exact same make and model as the one the certification body tested when they examined our product.
Now maintaining this paperwork is a nightmare. We buy dozens of critical components per board, many thousands of boards per year, and all from multiple suppliers. Further compounding the issue, we have multiple sub-contractors around the globe also purchasing components to place on boards for us. For ten years after we ship a product we need to be able to look up Fuse 1 on serial number XYZ123 and know the part came from the part manufacturer listed in the certification document.
I really wish that there was a part supplier that would maintain all of this paperwork for me, and all that I had to do 10 years from now was match up my customer sales order with POs made to get the parts in house. I log into your site, type in my real old PO number, and then BAM, my traceability data shows up, RoHS compliance data shows up, SVHC conformity data shows up, etc.
Extra bonus if I can upload my BOMs to your site and just place POs for top level assemblies, and your servers handle ordering the parts online or sending automated emails/faxes on my behalf with my company letterheard to the parts suppliers.
This is probably way out there to what your business model is. Half of this is venting on my part as I struggle to deal with this major supply chain issue. Someone should start this business. I should start this business.