What do you use for parts inventory and BOM management? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / projects

author: msr
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 11, 2016, 03:54:05 am
content: Hey everyone,As a maker but also as professional (an electrical engineer working in a startup) I feel the need to easily keep track of my electronics parts inventory as well as to create and manage BOMs either for my personal projects as well for the projects I have at work.However I'm not happy with the solutions I found on the web, for different reasons (price/model/features) so I'm creating a new software that fits exactly my needs. At the same time, I wonder if I'm the only one or if there's someone out there with similar frustrations. So I created this survey (it won't take you more that 1 or 2 minutes, I promise):http://goo.gl/forms/pr1u3qZBSyI'm not sharing what my frustrations are as of now in an attempt to keep the survey as unbiased as possible.I also would like to ask you to share it with your fellow EE colleagues, your maker friends and with whomever you think have the same needs.Let me know what you think. Thanks!

author: John_ITIC
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 11, 2016, 06:00:27 am
content: Quote from: msr on February 11, 2016, 03:54:05 amA box of parts and the Excel BOM output from Altium...

author: HackedFridgeMagnet
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 11, 2016, 06:21:47 am
content: Filled in your survey. Good luck.I have started writing my own CRM system, whenever I have spare time. Was actually doing some today.Mainly for invoicing, quoting and pricing.More based around electrical hardware than electronics but I want to include both.Going to add stock control as a stage II.Maybe need to change the DB to record each adjustment, auditing etc.Of course I shouldn't reinvent the wheel but I couldn't find what I was after and I love being able to fix software errors on the fly, by running it in the debugger. VS 2015.

author: msr
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 12, 2016, 02:33:29 am
content: Thanks for your input guys!

author: Mr.B
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 12, 2016, 02:49:30 am
content: Completed your survey.Good luck.It would be great to see something come out of this that tries to tick all the boxes for the hobbyist.I am currently usingwww.partsBox.ioIt is almost there... but, not quite...

author: msr
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 14, 2016, 04:00:22 am
content: @Mr.B, thanks a lot!Yes, I'm trying to target more the hobbyist scene despite it may be used by professionals as well (ie, people that make a living of electronics but that may be makers themselves).Hope to release the first beta next March!

author: sarepairman2
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 14, 2016, 04:43:37 am
content: three solutions to this cold equation:1) start a witch hunt every 3 months and grill your managers to start weighing boxes and filling out excel spread sheets / interrogating / detective work(american democracy (congressional hearing analog)) . With this system employees can divy up the blame to keep management argo down. annoying but might be a happy medium. elaborate scams might not be likely to start up.2) or lock up parts in a high security vault a-la evidence locker and require a sign out for everything(fascism, bring production down to a halt, stressed out employees, elaborate cover up system will result in the formation of a "mafia" inside your organization, similar to police corruption as power is placed in the hands of a few and employees will form networks to avoid management argo caused by them breaking parts/cover up theft). the inventory master will have power.2b) add paperwork to further slow things down and annoy people. be careful if you combine this with severely underpaid desperate employees. you might start shipping product with creative parts replacements. (army style).i gotta fill out 3 pages of paper work and interview 4 people to get another box of bolts? fuck that *closes sub assembly with bent electrical wire*3) or pay $$$ for a electronic database tool and have inaccurate results because of misappropriation.(lord of the flies, put cameras at building entrances to prevent big ass stuff from disappearing) (requires external mafia organization to replenish internally stolen resources). Similar to no inventory system (since there is no feedback and a false sense of security caused by a nice database tool).17 week lead time on that thing we thought we had last year? uh oh.stuff won't get signed out volunterally. you also need to implement dithering to make sure your inventory people are not just making shit up. like steal or add a few boxes of this or that and see if the report numbers actually change.I also think there is something psychologically unpleasant about taking someones stuff and having to ask permission/log all the time. There is almost this unwritten rule that makes you feel like you could be held responsible for it.

author: jwr
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: April 29, 2016, 06:28:12 pm
content: Quote from: Mr.B on February 12, 2016, 02:49:30 amHey everyone — PartsBox founder here. No tool fits every need, but I just wanted to drop in quickly and ask: if you find PartsBox lacking in some respect, please let me know, either via the feedback form, here, or by E-mailing me directly. I'd really like to know about problems my software doesn't solve. I do know about many, but I'm sure there is lots that I have no idea about.Also, PartsBox has gained lots of new features over the past months, so if you checked it out previously, you might want to take another look.thanks,--Jan RychterPartsBox: Keep track of your electronic componentshttps://partsbox.io/

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 29, 2016, 10:34:12 pm
content: Quote from: jwr on April 29, 2016, 06:28:12 pmHow do you link the Partsbox database to a CAD package like Orcad Capture CIS?

author: R3D3
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: April 30, 2016, 07:32:01 am
content: Check Elela-Elektronische Lagerverwaltung. Seems to be that what you are looking for.Hompage is in German but it says that the Sw can be changed to English(or translated)http://www.mmvisual.deGesendet von meinem Redmi 3 mit Tapatalk

author: jwr
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: April 30, 2016, 08:07:22 am
content: Quote from: nctnico on April 29, 2016, 10:34:12 pmOrcad Capture is currently not on the list, but I have almost finished preliminary integration with KiCad and EAGLE. This lets you import and (and subsequently re-sync) your parts list with a Project in PartsBox, assigning specific parts to CAD components, and letting you check stock, and possibly order components.As for Orcad Capture CIS, it seems to be solving a similar problem to PartsBox, so if someone already paid for that and has it (and uses it), I don't think PartsBox is an attractive proposition anyway, as that would require moving all the existing information over. But I'm very open to feature requests from companies on the company/enterprise plans and I do custom development as well.