Standardization in the Supply Chain - role of 3D software?

 The key takeaway in this article from Supply Chain Brain is part standardization. Follow the link to read the whole article.

I wholeheartedly agree that there is a lot of opportunity for improvement in many organizations.

I don't necessarily agree that you need a 3D model to do that, however, the model might more easily support the export of the raw data needed to do the analysis.

I remember that as an energetic youngster in supply chain 40 years ago that I asked our Configuration Management team to provide a data dump of the key dimensions for washers.

From a review of ID, OD, thickness, and tolerances (for all three), it turned out we had lots of opportunity for standardization !!

Depending on the designer, they used 2-digit decimals, 3-digit decimals, fractions, and drill sizes for ID and OD. Just this alone caused essentially the same item to have a different part number and different cost because each dimensioning method invoked different tolerances which then changed the process needed to achieve the needed result. Same issue for thickness - some designers use fractions, some decimals and some overrode standard industry sheet tolerances with their own tolerances.

More than anything, we needed a DRAFTING STANDARD and that alone would have helped reduce the variation.

At another firm, around the same timeframe, we had a Component Engineer who enforced standardization through allowable selections of "authorized" hardware and standard parts.

This made sure we started off on the right foot whichever system might have been used for the design itself.

Thoughts and comments?

#supplychain #design #hardware

Supply Chain Brain - article on 3D in Supply Chain