Patent ID: 11935001
Assignee: MCMASTER-CARR SUPPLY COMPANY
Field: IT methods for management (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC G | IPC G

Claim 0:
1. A system in a Computer-Aided Design (CAD) environment, the system comprising:
a CAD client device with a CAD design application;
a CAD add-in operative with the CAD client device and the CAD design application and configured to:
receive a CAD file of an assembly drawing;
analyze, based at least on part component definitions, the CAD file to extract part components located within the assembly drawing;
add the extracted part components to a part component list of the assembly drawing, wherein the assembly drawing and part component list are displayable on a User Interface (UI);
filter, based on a set of vendors sourcing the extracted part components, the part component list to identify specific vendors from the set of vendors sourcing one or more of the extracted part components or equivalent part components from the part component list;
determine, from each of the identified specific vendors, an availability of each of the extracted part components from the part component list, wherein the availability is requested in a computer-based communication to a server of the identified specific vendors; and
highlight, within the UI, the extracted part components for the identified specific vendors having availability of the extracted part components; and

an order generator configured to:
generate, based on the availability of the extracted part components, vendor-specific part component lists for at least one of the identified specific vendors with the availability;
convert the vendor-specific part component lists to purchase orders; and
communicate the purchase orders to a corresponding one of the identified specific vendors.