Part Numbering Mayhem

Whether you are a manufacturer, an industrial distributor, or a fabricator in the building trades, part numbers play a critical role in everything you buy, make, and deliver.

It used to be easy. You always purchased Widgets from Widget Co and so you used their part numbers for different types and sizes of widgets.

This same part number appeared on receiving documents, bills of materials, quotes, and orders from your customers. It also appeared as the corresponding Item Master Part Number in your ERP or accounting system.

Everyone knew that a WD30BL was a 3" Black Widget.

Then along came the pandemic, wars, and supply chain shortages. Now you have to purchase equivalent parts from multiple suppliers, some of which are identical and some not.

In this white paper, Dr. Green first gives a brief overview of the mayhem caused by the need to purchase parts with many different part numbers. Then he explores how to avoid these problems with proper procedures and software.

To learn more about this, please read the whitepaper "Part Numbering Mayhem" by Dr. Peter Green.