Direct materials, including both Off-The-Shelf and Custom components
Hierarchical Bills-Of-Material
Internal and Customer Product Documentation
Product Packaging and Shipping Materials
Internal Business Process Procedures
Assembly and Manufacturing Documentation, including schematics, assembly instructions, etc.
�DCA developed this simple standard because we keep seeing companies developing their own part numbering systems that are too complex and either have the potential to, or already do, get them in to trouble�, said Michael Kirschner, President of DCA. �Many Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) have expressed their displeasure to us at having to reinvent this wheel. Product Data Management/Product Lifecycle Management (PDM/PLM) companies have also repeated to us their new customers� dismay at having to solve this common problem without help, support, or content from the software vendor. We aim to solve their problems.�
The IPN Standard is currently available for review and comments to select Electronics OEM clients and PDM/PLM companies. The targetted release date is early July, 2003. The price for Electronics OEMs is $595 for a one-time company-wide licensing fee. Updates, if any, will be made available for one year from the license date at no fee, then at a modest fee thereafter. PLM/PDM companies wishing to license the IPN standard for use by their customers should contact DCA for terms.
As described in DCA�s popular white paper on Intelligent Part Numbering systems available at http://www.designchainassociates.com/wp/ipns.html, an unintelligent IPN system by itself is only part of the solution. Searchability, reuse, and reduction of redundant IPNs are the main goal of intelligent part numbers but can be achieved in a far more intuitive and useful manner by the use of well thought-out description standards and classification schemas that enable capture of the right functional, parametric, and descriptive information. DCA is developing standards for these as well and will release them later this year.
About Design Chain Associates, LLC
Design Chain Associates, LLC provides consulting services to Electronics Original Equipment Manufacturers. DCA focuses on the Design Chain, which defines and sets up the Supply Chain. DCA brings strategic value to clients through "Best Practice" process and methodology guidance on supplier and component selection, qualification, and lifecycle management. DCA also provides other core services relating to corporate acquisition integration; "womb-to-tomb" Component Engineering support; and software tool assessment, configuration guidance, and user education. San Francisco-based DCA has a local presence in other high-tech regions of the country such as the Austin/Houston corridor and the Boston region as well as around the globe through local associates. For more information, visit DCA on the web at http://www.designchainassociates.com or call us Toll Free at 866.DCA.7676.