Speeding up the Component Sourcing Process

Most of us can’t imagine living without the influence of consumer items on our lives, from basic coffee makers to high-tech cars. We have grown so accustomed to using these goods in their final form that we haven’t even considered the intricacy of the manufacturing process of these products. They are made up of hundreds of individual components, which all individually have to be designed and sourced. 

Consider the coffee maker, which many of us take for granted every morning. This appliance is actually made up of 45 individual parts, including the rocker switch and the foamer head. Cars are another consumer good that completely overshadows the coffee maker in terms of part complexity- it is made up of an astonishing 30,000 components.  Industrial designers and engineers spearhead a painstakingly planned process of design, production, and distribution of each of these parts.

Engineers rely on a variety of techniques to find and select the supplier parts they are designing. One of the least efficient methods is DIY, which involves the engineer redrawing the part made by supplier manufacturers. This process can take a long time and have low accuracy. Some engineers prefer to crowdsource designs from websites such as GrabCAD. This content can be generic and difficult to find after downloading, but does present a wide selection of products. 

The best method from an efficiency standpoint comes from using component search engines like 3DFindIt. These platforms give engineers access to an extensive database of approved data from a variety of manufacturers and brands. This method can speed up search time significantly and involves instant turnaround and revision time. Each engineer has the potential to save up to 625 hours and $70,000 yearly by using this search engine method. Product costs can also be reduced by 70% in the development and construction stage of the production process.