COVID-19 Is Making BOM Monitoring a Must
Ever since its inception, Partstat BOM Monitoring has been the industry’s only source for accurate obsolescence and allocation monitoring and prediction. What was once a luxury that took a team of analysts and billions of unstructured — and costly — data points to manage is all handled automatically for each BOM Monitoring customer after uploading their bills of material to our platform. It’s a platform that is easily accessible for anyone who wants to incorporate BOM monitoring into their inventory acquisition and risk management processes, regardless of company size or budget.
Recent days, however, have seen a radical change of circumstances, the likes of which we have never seen before. COVID-19, and the supply chain disruption that it has brought with it, has closed many a manufacturer who had become reliant on open air and shipping lanes for inventory acquisition. Recently, it was estimated that COVID-19 shut down 93% of all U.S. auto production, which has drastic implications not just for the auto manufacturers themselves, but the manufacturers of nuts, bolts, widgets, and electronic components that rely on a steady buyer pool of auto companies.
In this environment, BOM monitoring is no longer a luxury, nor is it optional — to survive this pandemic and the shortages it has caused, equipment manufacturers must keep diligent, accurate, detailed track of the inventory their production goals require.
Below are just a few of the benefits a manufacturer will be able to take advantage of with Partstat BOM Monitoring. Together, they can help manufacturers weather this storm, one project at a time:
1. Monitor and Predict Allocation Issues. By analyzing average inventory quantities, prices, and lead times across the industry, our complex algorithms allow the user to accurately predict allocation issues weeks, or even months, before they occur. Especially in today’s environment, it is critical that OEMs have a window of opportunity that allows them to pivot their supply chain as they see fit, whether that means finding another component manufacturer or distributor, finding an alternative component, or initiating a product redesign.
2. Monitor and Predict Obsolescence Issues. The same Big Data that we use to predict allocation can also predict component obsolescence. Allocation and obsolescence must both be considered to avoid disruption, especially when disruption is occurring on a mass scale as it is today. An additional capability of our BOM Monitoring tool is that when our system flags a part as EOL, we will purchase, store, and fulfill 20+ years of Last Time Buy Inventory, to support OEM production and service commitments.
3. Dedicated BOM Specialist. Through every step of the process, Parstat BOM Customers will have full access to their own BOM Specialist who will resolve any conflicts discovered across a customer’s multiple bills of material. They also will reach out to the manufacturer to confirm component lifecycles in real time, which saves customers hours of tedious busywork, and will even complete a full BOM Health Analysis on your bill of material to ensure accuracy.
4.Instantly Price Your BOM. As a bonus, upon upload, your bill of material will be instantly priced, which saves customers yet another critical but time-intensive step in the process.