Sourcing Items

To simplify the sourcing process, the Product Engineering (PE) application uses a data model based on the Part as the central item. A Part can be made in-house or purchased. In the latter case, the Part can have an AML (Approved Manufacturers List) to maintain one or more Manufacturer Parts associated with it. Each Manufacturer Part can be produced by only one Manufacturer and be sold by many Vendors. A Vendor may sell the same Part from more than one Manufacturer and can include all their available Parts with their Manufacturer information.

Figure 65.

Each Manufacturer Part has the Manufacturer property to denote who makes the Part. You can assign only one Manufacturer to a Manufacturer Part. If there are several Manufacturers making similar, equivalent, or identical Parts, you must create the corresponding number of Manufacturer Parts.

The recommended workflow for Sourcing is the following sequence of steps:

1. Create Manufacturers.
2. Create Manufacturer Parts.
3. Create Vendors.
4. Approve Manufacturers, Manufacturer Parts, and Vendors.
5. Add Manufacturer Parts to the AML of the corresponding Part.