Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1406534
30 SMT007 MAGAZINE I SEPTEMBER 2021 into parts, their specs, and help with replace- ment issues. If there's an end of life, what oth- er parts are identical, and which one could be a direct replacement? We still do our engineer- ing check on it, but the parts database service is only one tool; there are other small tools that build out our distributions, and utilities that tie into the network. We compile all that data to come up with a realistic picture of that BOM. en we see if there was a way to update the availability automatically. Matties: We hear that much of the data com- ing in on the BOMs is mistyped, or there isn't complete data, leaving your team to figure it out; or you spend a lot of time going back to the customer for clarification. How accurate do you think most BOMs are? Do they all re- quire some sort of communication back to the customer before you can complete the pro- cess? Irfan: On the ones we design, when the BOM is under our control, our BOMs are pretty orga- nized, but with the BOMs we receive from cus- tomers, we always have questions due to miss- ing information or incorrect part numbers. Al- most always. Matties: Right. And are these questions valid? Should they have been answered when they sent you the material? Irfan: ey should have been sent, but the problem is that the early BOM is put togeth- er by engineering. Engineering doesn't have a manufacturing mindset, so to them, it was a complete BOM. But from a manufacturing perspective, that's a very different BOM. e operations and product release groups would understand that these are not complete manu- facturing BOMS. Tier ones are very disciplined in that, but most other companies are not very well disciplined and have gaps in them. Matties: I guess they probably don't realize that inaccurate data is only causing delays in their project, right? Irfan: Yes, but it's the engineers' mindset you're trying to train, and generally they see the BOM, and they think it was pretty good docu- mentation that they handed over. en, when you point those things out they say, "But why can't you figure that out?" You still have to go back and say, "is is what I think it should have been, but I need you to sign off on that." It causes delays. Matties: When you're in the quoting process, you spend time to decipher this information, and then if you don't necessarily get rewarded the job, that's a costly exercise. Irfan: It is, but fortunately in our situation we're not doing a lot of RFQs where we're not getting the project. We are selectively engag- ing with customers, so most times when we're doing a quote it's very early in the relation- ship and we say, "We're capable of doing this project of yours, so let us show you how we would approach it." It's a known investment we make into that. For example, with a recent customer, we did maybe about a week and a half 's worth of work into the project from an engineering point of view and some work on other types, and we presented a very detailed scope. We know that we're seeding a customer for that, but generally, our hit ratio is very high. When we're quoting, we're quoting in a known situation where we know we'll get the proj- ect. But as we grow and we increase our sales and marketing flow, we will start having more We compile all that data to come up with a realistic picture of that BOM.