Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1406534
28 SMT007 MAGAZINE I SEPTEMBER 2021 Feature Interview by the I-Connect007 Editorial Team In this interview, Whizz President Muham- mad Irfan shares his 20-plus years of experi- ence by breaking down the bill of materials process in today's challenging environment. Ir- fan describes what that means for his team and suppliers, and how we move forward in a post- pandemic climate. Barry Matties: We've been looking at several ar- eas where there's room for improvement, in- cluding the bill of materials (BOM) process. When you look at the BOM process, starting with quoting and going through the process, what challenges are there, and what improve- ments do you hope to see? Muhammad Irfan: Right now, there are multi- ple solutions that are not cohesive as one so- lution. Typically, you're getting a BOM and tying it electronically into all the distribu- tors' networks to check stock and invento- ry. But once they're present in the system, in reality, that is one pain point. Because, in par- allel, there are other transactions that could be going on where the system is showing stock, but within 30 minutes, maybe two large POs came in and the stock is not even there anymore. In the BOM process, one challenge is check- ing it and tying it to the real inventory stock with the distributors. Second, it is getting a snapshot and report to the customer, but by the time the customer places a PO, it could have totally changed on the distributor side. We tell our customers, "If you act quickly, it's more likely going to be very close to what we are showing you here as available, and here is that pricing." Customers must understand that they need to make quick decisions on one pur- chase authorization. If they take days or some- times weeks, you redo all that work. On top of having the tool to electronically tie into the distributor check of the system, it's about call- ing and making sure it's there. en there is end-of-life components. We have a subscription to a parts database ser- vice. It is an expensive subscription, but we maintain it because it gives us a lot of visibility Whizz is Da BOM Muhammad Irfan