Octopart launches Company Tools, allows part suppliers to easily upload data

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.

I actually use Octopart as a product catalogue and then find the things it finds in the UK.