Standard Parts Numbering System 2

[tmrdesign]

My question: HOW TO CONVINCE LEADERSHIP OF MY COMPANY
THAT STANDARD PARTS NUMBERING SYSTEM SAVES MONEY

The company I work for is in business for more then 30 years. There has been several attempts to create standard
(of the shelf) part numbering system.
This was never given a priority, and the consequence is
that there are several series of standard parts and
nobody knows which one to follow.
To make things worse,
the company was bought by a German company.
They also have several standard part numbering systems.
To my surprise, their entries are as inconsistent as ours.
Our draftsmen and engineers are allowed to create part
numbers more or less as they please. We have in our data
base sometimes 30 part numbers for one item.
I am sorry to say, that our management see nothing wrong
with it.
I want to convince them, that there are many things wrong with it.

Every new person starting in engineering or purchasing is shocked about the laissez fair approach to standard part numbers.
it cost the company several thousand dollars every day in lost efficiency and wasted time. I would estimate minimum $200,000.00/ Year
60 (we are about 100) people wasting 1/2 hour a day =$12 x 60= $720 x 300 days= $216 000.00
I am not even counting lost benefits in
-purchasing power -I can not get a estimate of usage/year
-Verifying previous purchase price to establish if I am charged the correct price (no historical data)
-eliminating drafting time
-eliminating errors/ revisions
-inefficient way creating bom (search)

are there any articles writen by profesional managers
which addresses this issue ?

Thanks for any imput

 

[MadMango]

Seems like you have the data. If your company doesn't want to save the indicated amount of money, there's not much you can do.

1) Can your ERP system be programmed to not allow the entry of non-standard part numbers?
2) Who have you told? Maybe you need to tell someone else.

As a related topic, you may want to research theh benifits and disadvantages of significant and non-significant part numbers.
Have a look at the following:
thread559-45542
thread559-26989
thread559-97795

[green]"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."[/green]

Have you read faq731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

 

[tmrdesign]

Thanks Mad
1. I am not sure about the programming, but I believe
it can be done. All system changes are done by our parent
company in Germany.
2. You are right. I told the chief draftsman (few times over
last 5 years). He can make it happen, but he does not want
to be told by underling.
Our CEO was let go 2 month ago- we are loosing money
So I will try to bring this to attention of director of
Finance.
I just need more ammunition that what I think. I am not in
a position where I can make decisions. It just bugs me.

 

[ctopher]

I suggest have a meeting with everyone involved and voice your concerns. Seems to me departments do not communicate with each other. Having a meeting may wake them up. I did it once and it worked.

Chris
SolidWorks 06 4.1/PDMWorks 06
AutoCAD 06
ctopher's home (updated 10-27-06)

 

[fcsuper]

Declare yourself the authority on this matter and get some vague backing from a random VP. Then force whatever system you want on everyone. Unfortunately, I'm not kidding.


Matt
CAD Engineer/ECN Analyst
Silicon Valley, CA

http://sw.fcsuper.com/index.php

 

[tmrdesign]

Thank you Super Matt.
I am not as forceful to impose on others. I like to make
them see, what is obvious to me.
What I really need is some hard statistics ($$money$$)
from a company, which was in a mess and than improved,
when they organized their data base.
I think of my self as authority in this matter.
Many people in this company will contact me if they need
some info from the system.
I worked in the past for two different companies,
where I straightened up the data base. I took the responsibility on my self, but it was easier since I had full access.
Since large part of this company data base is used world wide (Canada, Germany, USA, Italy, China, Brasil)
I do not have full access. Only to a small part of it, which is independent.

 

[Cheeseburger]

I concur with Matt ... take charge and just do it.

I started at my present company as a Mechanical Designer / Documentation Coordinator. When I started here, the ECO system was chaotic (and that's being nice).

I wanted to change it to make it more user friendly and reduce time and paperwork. My suggestions met harsh rejections and critism's. They believed the system to be fine and didn't want it changed.

I decided to take it upon myself and propose what I wanted to the Director of R&D. He liked what he say and told me to do whatever I had to, to make it happen.

I'm happy to say that I got my way. Our ECO system isn't the best, but we have reduced time, man-hours, paperwork, and thereby saved money as well.

All my hard work got me promoted to Documentation Control Manager (not sure if that's a good thing yet).

Keep up the Good Fight 'tmrdesign'

Cheers

 

[tmrdesign]

Thank you-I hope that this may happen here…

I am stepping lightly.
Today I had a talk with the CFO. I only mention the
problem of Standard Parts System briefly.
We have a host of other problems, Information Flow
between the parent company and us is not the best.

 

[BSMECAD]

Hello,

I have worked in engineering for a little over 10yrs.
The part numbering system is the foundation for essential business functions.

The best way to convice managment part number is important is to come up with a list real problem examples.

For example:

1. Problem: Two screws assigned same part numbers
Result: Purchase orders double inventory
Assembly area has two parts bins.
Wasted effort lost money / time.

2. Problem: Cannot locate part number or engineering
drawings to make revison change.
Result: Poor recording keeping database.

This is an important topic.
You may want to attend or invite managment to training.
Here is one good training seminar I have taken.

http://www.ecm5tools.com

 

[JMirisola]

I came from a company that had a singular part numbering system in place. Because of it, it helped them as they implemented lean manufacturing througout the company. Now they're a $1B/year company. BOM's reflected correct parts, it was easy to find what you needed in the ERP system
When I got to my present company, there were no less than four different part numbering schemes. I've been working on converting to a singular system for a year now and probably have another 6 months. Not to mention the fact that the drawing number was completely different altogether. My point being, the longer you wait, the more it's going to hurt. We're a smaller company with maybe a thousand parts, changing all the part numbers, updating the drawings converting our ERP system...you get the picure. The longer you wait, the worse the pain is going to be.

Jeff Mirisola, CSWP
CAD Administrator
SW '07 SP1.0, Dell M90, Intel 2 Duo Core, 2GB RAM, nVidia 2500M

http://designsmarter.typepad.com/jeffs_blog

 

[007bondy]

hi guys,
I have been involved with 2 part no systems, both at the same company ,
System 1 was simple
8digit alpanumeric customer no eg.FT120000
FT120000
Final assembley No ------+ buy parts
/ \ with own
412345995603 712345 numbers
finish metal work woodwork parts
(powdercoated) \
/ raw mdf boards
412345 with assigned buy
welded Metal work part nos
/
tubular steel parts
No 912345

that was hard to type this time of night (yawn)
the second system is slightly different
and I'll get to that later now Im going to sleep
Just be prepared for resistance to change (as you have already found out ) your biggest ally is to quantify in dollars and cents how much it is costing the company ($216,000 + dollars as you stated) no small amount in anyones book.
We did the same to show how much time and money was being wasted because of slow network and crash intensive computers (10 crashes was the record I think ,probably more
oh and a powersupply exploding on the it girl that was funny)
My point is this yes lose money short term to change to good system . long term gain no double ups and a myriad of other savings as others have shown.
take the bull by the horns and go hard . If the others complain tell them to build a bridge and get over it..