Supplier Item Lookup Helps OEMs See Component Savings

Manufacturers who were once blind to part pricing and component availability can now see, thanks to Arena’s Supplier Item Lookup (SIL) for Octopart and SiliconExpert.

SIL promises to heal manufacturers from component lifecycle and compliance management issues they face on a regular basis. Lack of visibility into component availability can cause line-down situations that can result in catastrophic shipments delays.

A lack of understanding of a part’s environmental compliance status can also prove costly. Gaps in component and material compliance evidence can hamper an organization’s ability to meet ever-increasing global regulations.

Supplier Item Lookup addresses these challenges by giving users instant access to current market availability and compliance information across an entire product’s bill of materials (BOM) in a single view. Users can quickly focus on availability issues and obtain the latest compliance information – improving the ability to ship quality products on time.

Powered by Octopart, a Google-like search engine for electronic parts, Arena’s Supplier Item Lookup enables users to gather information on component availability, datasheets, RoHS (Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment) and REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and Restriction of Chemicals) statements, Conflict Minerals statements, and Materials Declarations directly from within Arena Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) and Arena Quality Management System (QMS) software solutions.

How does Arena Supplier Item Lookup work?

Supplier Item Lookup searches manufacturer part information in the Octopart component database and presents the results directly in the Arena PLM BOM view. The BOM Lookup view displays current availability from authorized distribution and provides access to datasheet and compliance documents with these key benefits:

• Easily identify sourcing issues – By seeing market availability of all BOM components in one convenient table, users can quickly identify components that have low distributor availability and are at risk of causing disruptions in production.
• Access to component datasheets – Saves time in locating component datasheets. Instead of searching specific manufacturer websites users can access datasheets directly in Arena PLM and QMS.
• Access to compliance documents – Compliance certificates for RoHS, REACH and Conflict Minerals are at the user’s fingertips for improved compliance management.

Everyone in the design, sourcing, and manufacturing process stumbles upon data problems, whether it’s non-transparent pricing or hard-to-get technical information. The integration of Arena and Octopart puts available electronic part data at the customers’ fingertips.

Janine Yoong, Head of Marketing and Distribution at Octopart says, “OEMs save time by being able to quickly lookup part information, a tedious and arduous process of going through different supplier websites. They also save money by having better access to the best prices and managing lead times.”

As Octopart’s electronic part database grows, manufacturers can expect to see even more part information exposed to the Arena Supplier Item Lookup user. Octopart will supply Arena with more sophisticated features, e.g. historical part pricing, alerts, and more.

Part data today is unstructured, difficult to access, and time-consuming to find. The integration between Octopart and Arena PLM and QMS helps solve this problem with greater access to part data in design, sourcing, and manufacturing.

Arena customers consider contacting your Account Executive for more info on Supplier Item Lookup today.