Predict Allocation: Partstat BOM Monitoring by the “Number”

The benefits of adopting a BOM monitoring service need no elaboration. Lead times for once commoditized passive components are now approaching near historic highs — in some cases beyond 52 weeks — and as component manufacturers continue to ramp up production to meet escalating demand, the lifecycles of their offerings continue to shorten. The problem has become so exacerbated that some components are transitioning to obsolescence before they even hit the market.

All signs indicate that the electronics manufacturing industry is well-positioned to post significant growth throughout 2018 and beyond, but to ensure their products are put in a position to succeed, a strategy that keeps OEMs ahead of impending component obsolescence has gone from being a luxury to an absolute necessity.

Choosing what kind of BOM monitoring strategy to adopt, however, is a much more difficult proposition. In essence, a BOM monitoring strategy can be nothing more than delegating a team to diligently track PCN notices as they are issued. PCN notices, however, are issued as a customer courtesy, and as such there is no industry standard that dictates when they should be issued — or even if they should be issued at all.

In 2016, over 129,000 components were obsoleted without a PCN notice, which accounts for nearly 48 percent of all obsoleted components that year. Of the PCN notices that were issued, 24 percent came with an immediate last time buy date. Once you factor in these findings with the human error inherent with any such task, it’s easy to see how an OEM can quickly lose any savings they might have accumulated not investing in a proper solution.

But once it has been decided that it’s time to finally adopt one of the many BOM monitoring services that are on the market, the choice only gets more complicated. Each one is slightly different, and each one is going to take every opportunity to highlight some numbers illustrating what makes them unique.
So, to clear the air, we thought it would be pertinent to offer a number of our own that might make your decision a little easier. Numbers are certainly important, but we feel that it’s more important to highlight the right number.

This is the right number: 1.

Home to the largest free electronic component search engine and marketplace, Partstat has more than enough statistics to cement its place as the industry’s most comprehensive BOM Monitoring Solution on the market. 50 billion points of Big Data. Over 21 million unique electronic components and semiconductors. 4,932 inventory uploaders. 236,639 searches in the last seven days alone. It is resources like this that allow us to offer customers a BOM Monitoring Solution that is unmatched in its ability to notify customers of impending obsolescence within a real-time model.

We may monitor obsolescence more accurately than any competitor on the market, but we are the first to admit that other services offer such a feature. What Partstat BOM Monitoring does offer, however, is the unique ability to predict when a critical component is going on allocation.

There is only one product in the supply chain industry that predicts component allocation before it occurs, and it can be found here. In a fast-paced market when a single component on allocation has the potential to completely upend a supply chain, the ability to get ahead of such obstacles and quickly make a last time buy (the sooner an order is placed, the better) or source alternative parts can easily save an OEM customer hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The secret to any successful supply chain is its ability to be not just reactive, but proactive. But no strategy can be truly proactive without the ability to get ahead of both obsolescence and allocation. One service offers both.

At the end of the day, when we want to highlight just how valuable Partstat can be to potential OEM customers seeking a way to monitor their bill of material, 1 is the only number we need.