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People looking to buy electronic parts in bulk engage services of electronic components aggregator search engines. The primary appeal of search engine marketplaces is their ability to connect buyers directly with authorised distributors who reflect a mutual commitment to price transparency and business integrity. I will mention a few key players that benefit from sourcing through cloud-based electronics search engines and this include original equipment manufacturers (OEM), electronic manufacturing service (EMS), contract manufacturers (CM) for their projects. Why do they use them, simple, because using a comparison website has its advantages especially if you are ordering in bulk and need the delivery quickly.
Based on my experience as a buyer, I can clearly state that working in the Electronics Industry has exposed me to enough challenges especially with the constant changes in stock availability of electronic components. These challenges have been magnified with the current health pandemic that’s testing our supply chains. The first lockdown in China exposed how reliant the world has become on them, we saw majority of the world’s electronic manufacturing affect with products like the much-anticipated gaming consoles being delayed for release, big phone companies postponing their new product launch dates. Currently, we are seeing shipping cost quadruple due to the lack of shipping containers because of lack of labour to clear our ports. These are just but a few examples.
What are electronic parts search engines?
An electronic parts search engine is an algorithm run website like google that helps visitors locate components or search for electronic parts from global manufacturers & distributors inventory either by use of parametric keywords, manufacturers part numbers or schematics.
The most accurate results are delivered by inserting the MPN which is unique to individual parts. The results generated are then offered in an orderly layout. For example, distributor, part number, product brand/manufacturer, price, minimum order quantity, PCB footprints, datasheet, and lead times for delivery. These search engines have changed a lot of variables and what used to take hours of valuable time of dedicated research and networking can now be accomplished in no time, and every professional in the procurement supply chain has felt the benefits and can confirm this as a positive impact of technology and comparison search engines.
There are 5 established electronic parts and electronic components search engines but, in this article, we will be comparing two of the relatively new platforms that seem to be gaining favour with hobbyist and professional engineers alike.
Oemsecrets.com vs PartStats: A comparison
Before 2020 Covid-19 pandemic the electronics industry was experiencing a period of steady growth, as a result technological advancement was being pushed to advanced levels to aid professionals in procurement, management and design engineering teams who specialize in buying, as well as manufacturers who sell electronic components to incorporate the benefits of online marketplaces like oemsecrets.com and partstat.com in their daily routines. We discuss three key features of these two platforms.
BOM management Tool
Both platforms offer a free to use bill of materials, however, oemsecrets tool is superior on a few levels. To fully understand how revolutionary oemsecrets.com BOM management tool is, we must look at what partstat’s and other competitors offer.
Most other competitors like silicon expert, netcomponents and IC source offer a subscription-based services which to be honest is not that transparent to the end user unless they have paid for the tool.
With Oemsecrets, all elements of searching for parts are free including the use of the bill of materials tool. Their BOM tool allows you the user to run upto 250 lines of items for free with a maximum of 10 bill of materials uploads. This can also be amended upon request and with the option of having multiple users.
The amount of data collected from manufacturers feeds also allows a buyer or product developer to accurately identify parts that are coming to their end of cycle or becoming obsolete and out of stock and offer insight to other relevant parts in the same series of products.
Realtime data
Big data is key in many industries especially in the supply chain network. Oemsecrets identified a lot of discrepancies in the data buyers used to get surrounding electronic parts online. Therefore, their data is now purely real-time to avoid concerns arising from lack of stock, price inflation and out of supply parts.
A lot of companies charge people for real-time data, however, Oemsecrets’ is offering this data for free i.e., free unlimited access on their websites frontend. Critical data that buyers need to make those important decisions. For example, stock availability, inventory levels, lead times, comparison prices from various distributors, option of currency to buy with. This data has been streamlined on both ends and even manufacturers are seeing more engagement because of how the data is being served by these upcoming electronic parts online search engine.
Partnerships with manufacturers
Relationships are key in any business and this has been a driving force for better end user experience. Oemsecrets has been sharing online support products with some of their manufacturers, helping them with skill sets that the manufacturers do not have to increase their visibility. This mutual beneficial partnership is great as it helps the manufacturers grow and offer their users access to them directly which sometimes is hard to order directly from them.
Conclusio
Electronic parts and components marketplaces have become more important now and their ability to connect buyers directly with authorised distributors who reflect a mutual commitment to price transparency and business integrity have become critical. Take advantage of these online electronic components systems the next time you are working on an engineering project.
Article researched and published by www.electronicscomponents.co.uk writer Ohms Lawrence.
