

Octopart launches Company Tools, allows part suppliers to easily upload data - sam
http://octopart.com/blog/archives/2009/8/company-tools-is-live

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micks56
Hi Octopart guys,

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.

~~~
sam
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.

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jgrahamc
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.

~~~
sam
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.

~~~
jgrahamc
Hmm. Didn't realize that you had Farnell. I guess if you have the and you
could get RS Components that would be a pretty good start.

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rlm
I love the story of this startup, and it's great to see them succeed :)

~~~
wensing
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).

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prakash
Congrats!

