Tip of the month
Tip of the Month - Duplicated Parts
One of the jobs I worked in dealt with numerous products. We had in total about 300 different finished products, including variations. But we also had a problem which wasn't picked up until quite late, which never went away. One of the components we used in maybe 80% the products used a special type of wire which was critical to the products. But that part actually had two completely different part numbers, with 30% of the products using one number, and 70% of the products using the other number.
We looked into the problem as it caused problems with stocktakes, production and warehouse staff and purchase orders. As these parts were used widely across the companies products the problem was too fix, and we just had to let this one go. Another problem of this nature occurred with another item, a bolt, but the part was only in two bills of materials and was able to be rectified.
To prevent a problem like this happening, it would be best to have a prefix for similar categories of parts and a bit of diligence in searching for existing identical parts. Please revisit this webpage next month for more great tips.
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