Abstract

Circuit card design and assembly companies must have an electronic parts management process in order to ensure the selection of the best parts, ultimately providing their customers with competitive products. While this plan will be unique for each company, the best parts management plans incorporate universal parts management procedures; these procedures are presented in this paper.

This paper presents an approach to manufacturer parts family assessment, whereby the best parts available are selected for use in a supplier's product. Following part manufacturer methodology, parts having similar characteristics from one manufacturer are grouped into a manufacturer part family. This allows process controls and qualification information from a sample of those parts to represent the entire family. A set of criteria by which the manufacturer (and associated part family) and the distributor (if used) can be assessed is also presented. An example case of this approach is provided, whereby a manufacturer's part family is evaluated and acceptable responses are presented.

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