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Drawing number different than part number. What possible reason?

RJT

Titanium
Joined
Aug 24, 2006
Location
greensboro,northcarolina
I have customers who have different part numbers, drawing numbers, SAP numbers, and stockroom numbers all for the same part. Never know what number purchasing is going to ask for a quote on. It depends who is requisitioning it. I don't always know what Bill of material to search to find things on. Only solution I have come up with is to build a searchable spread sheet, but I don't have all the information at the same time to fill it in. Royal PITA. Purchasing is clueless. Engineering usually goes by drawing number, production uses part numbers (because that is usually what is engraved in the part), maintenance left out in the cold. I can't see why they ever came up with this, makes no sense to me. Rant off.
 
It sounds like a system designed to be self sustaining. By that I mean it has been made so complex that likely only the "priesthood" fully comprehend it. Virtually guaranteed job security.

IMO if it were truly a rational system they would give you all the necessary cross-referenced numbers when ordering.
 
I've read similar stories on PM before.

I'm always curious why the RFQ/PO package doesn't include all requester specific drawings/specs?

How can a purchasing agent send out an RFQ/PO for THEIR companies P/N without defining the configuration/requirements with a data package?

My response would be "Please send the data package so I can respond to your RFQ".

As far as their Configuration Management being strange . . . if the data package says to mark parts made per drawing 123 with P/N XYZ, who cares? Not my problem.

Do they pay the invoices in a timely manor? OK = good customer.
 
Yes, they pay their invoices. My biggest problem, it sometimes takes me an hour or longer to finally find a drawing to quote, only to find out it isn't something I am remotely interested in quoting. That is happening 2 -3 times a week. I'm seriously thinking of having to charge them a fee to find drawings and / or to quote if they can't give me better information. Can't imagine other vendors have an easier time with it. Good long term customer, problem is getting worse as people retire or move to a different department and replacements are not trained.
 
It's not unusual for proprietary manufacturers to get multiple part numbers for the same part. It's one of those things that happens over time. They will design a new product that shares parts with the older one, but they assign a new part number to it which conforms to the new product's numbering system.

Then a couple years later, they do it again, etc. Over time they end up with a bunch of different part numbers for the same part.

Changing the part number to a standard number for those kinds of parts is what they should do, and update their BOM's and drawings. But that's a lot of work, so they muddle along until someone forceful enough comes along and cleans it all up.

Been there- I once had to standardize an entire series of product lines to make it logical and scalable. Over 1000 different parts. It was a pretty big job- not just getting the drawings and docs in conformance, but printing new catalogs and price lists...
 
Many PLM systems use a different number or numbering system for parts (materials) and documents. These various numbers are linked together in the PLM database. If your customer is using SAP it is common to have a material number and associated DIR or multiple DIRs (document information record) numbers. The purchase order in a well configured system will list the material number and the associated document that defines that material (such as the part drawing, or part drawing and solid model). Having families of parts or different configurations of parts only complicates matters.
 
Do you have a copy of all their prints that you have to sort through or something? I can understand keeping copies of repeat parts, but not one of parts you don't want to make.

Or maybe they are sending you giant RFQ's with 50+ parts tons of parts including ones you don't want to make?

Seems like their purchasing doesn't even know how to order the parts. I would just ask that they order and list on the RFQ list each part#/drawing# by line and include the current drawing and CAD part.
 
Yes, they pay their invoices. My biggest problem, it sometimes takes me an hour or longer to finally find a drawing to quote, only to find out it isn't something I am remotely interested in quoting. That is happening 2 -3 times a week. I'm seriously thinking of having to charge them a fee to find drawings and / or to quote if they can't give me better information. Can't imagine other vendors have an easier time with it. Good long term customer, problem is getting worse as people retire or move to a different department and replacements are not trained.

Biggest problem I see, is if you construct your own cross reference, AND IT'S WRONG, at some point in the future you are going to eat an order of incorrect parts. I would just construct a spreadsheet of drawings you have on file, showing drawing number AND REVISION, part number, and any other identifier that you can trace to documentation YOU HAVE... Joe the PA said they were the same doesn't count, 'cause after Joe retires...

This should give you a place for a "one stop shop" search on any number they should order. If it's not in your spreadsheet, that means you don't have the documentation you'll need if they reject a batch of parts, and they will have to send it in order to get a quote.

Dennis
 
Purchasing is a logistics company. They send out RFQ when they get a requisition. They are clueless. When they did purchasing in house, they always sent a complete document package. They think they are saving money by using global purchasing. They order spare parts 3 at a time every other month. We used to make 15 -20 at a time once a year. They don't even know their pricing has increased because they cant track anything by part number. Its really a clusterfuck. Medical company that has been purchased twice by bigger companies in the last 4 years. I am seeing this trend with several customers.
 
I used to deal with this all the time. Very annoying Basically one customer. We upped the hourly rate by $10 on them. They never said a word.
 
Purchasing is a logistics company. They send out RFQ when they get a requisition. They are clueless. When they did purchasing in house, they always sent a complete document package. They think they are saving money by using global purchasing. They order spare parts 3 at a time every other month. We used to make 15 -20 at a time once a year. They don't even know their pricing has increased because they cant track anything by part number. Its really a clusterfuck. Medical company that has been purchased twice by bigger companies in the last 4 years. I am seeing this trend with several customers.


You should be talking to the purchasing agent (logistics company). Ask the PA how you're expected to bid if you don't receive a data package? Tell them you don't maintain a file of there old drawings.

Your wounds are self inflicted.
 
I guess I can't understand why a drawing number and a part number would be the same. I have seen many part numbering systems and they usually follow some pattern that the company established. Often a prefix would indicate what type of part it was. They could have hundreds or even thousands of types of parts and a prefix for each one.

On the other hand, I have seen systems for drawing numbers and they have their own set of rules. Often a date or at least a year is a part of it. Or some kind of project or finished item number. When I set up drawing files with drawing numbers, I usually used a two digit year and then serial numbers after that: 170001, 170002, etc. With a proper drawing register/database, they are easy to look up.

As for people sending out RFQs, they are probably 9-5 idiots. I would send a polite letter to the ones that I wanted to retain as customers stating what my requirements are for processing such a request. If nothing else, they should be able to standardize on one type of number or another. Explain that you need some consistency for your own filing system.
 
Look at this as an opportunity to make yourself irreplaceable. If you take it upon yourself to maintain and organize their documentation, it becomes very hard to switch vendors. I did this to varying degrees for some of our customers. Some of them had no drawings at all. Instead of making a new part from the worn out sample, I would make a drawing and assign OUR number to it. The part(s) were stamped with our initials & part no., so the next time maintenance needed one, that's how it was ordered. Guess who got the order.

If you are not already tracking this stuff by computer, it's time. Create a simple spreadsheet and fill it out as the info becomes available. Make their disorganization work for you.
 
A few reasons for differing part identification at places I've worked:

Legacy part numbers won't fit the format of the latest and greatest ERP software and have to be modified. I've seen this snowball into something like you are seeing now.

Vendor parts have different format than the OEM. The OEM assigns their own internal part number.

Different departments decide on their own part numbering system to suit their own needs but the overall company makes all the numbering systems fit the "standard" at the end.

OEM assigns a different number to spare parts vs production parts. One place had a different part number assigned to each spare part depending on paint color of the final part configuration.

and a few others...

As stated there's usually a cadre of internal people who can figure this out fairly quickly but outside vendors can't but I'd hesitate to start my own outside system to track this.
 
Thanks all for possible explanations. I do ask purchasing (in writing)for documentation and they say its up to the requisition-er (who is unknown to me) to supply the correct print (finger pointing). With enough persistence i can get what I need, I just hate wasting the time.
 
The middle man logistics provider must or should have in place from the end user some sort of data file to identify the parts.

It should not be too difficult to establish some "ground rules" to continue.

If in the past the end user provided a drawing or drawing number for parts it should continue that way.

You could seek out someone at a higher level at the logistics company to advise the proper process to order parts as they seek to be fast and cheap and you seek to be fast and mistake free.

By setting up a process to have them communicate better it allows you to provide the correct part faster for less cost due to less overhead of guessing.

Remember to present to them you are reducing THEIR costs ..

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337Z using Tapatalk
 
I have customers who have different part numbers, drawing numbers, SAP numbers, and stockroom numbers all for the same part. Never know what number purchasing is going to ask for a quote on. It depends who is requisitioning it. I don't always know what Bill of material to search to find things on. Only solution I have come up with is to build a searchable spread sheet, but I don't have all the information at the same time to fill it in. Royal PITA. Purchasing is clueless. Engineering usually goes by drawing number, production uses part numbers (because that is usually what is engraved in the part), maintenance left out in the cold. I can't see why they ever came up with this, makes no sense to me. Rant off.

Sounds like we have the same customer.When I get orders they just have part #'s and no description of the parts and different Part#'s and Drawing #'s..
 
I have customers who have different part numbers, drawing numbers, SAP numbers, and stockroom numbers all for the same part. Never know what number purchasing is going to ask for a quote on. It depends who is requisitioning it. I don't always know what Bill of material to search to find things on. Only solution I have come up with is to build a searchable spread sheet, but I don't have all the information at the same time to fill it in. Royal PITA. Purchasing is clueless. Engineering usually goes by drawing number, production uses part numbers (because that is usually what is engraved in the part), maintenance left out in the cold. I can't see why they ever came up with this, makes no sense to me. Rant off.
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i have been burned before cause different part number was a slightly different part. to the point we have work instructions with pictures showing 2 parts side by side and how to tell the difference between the 2 parts which often unless pointed out the parts look the same
 
Actually, this is a smart way to do it. The drawing is a separate document on its own which represents a certain part. A company I worked for would always put a "1" on the end of the drawing number to signify that it was a drawing. So if the part number was 325900 the drawing would be 325901. When you see a "descriptive" part number in a catalogue it will usually have a part number of its own internally and a separate drawing number that is not for customer consumption.
 
Here's my simplistic explanation for why you have different part numbers and dwg numbers. Let's say you have a dwg that shows a bolt. This bolt can be made out of carbon steel, stainless steel, inconel, etc. If you don't want to revise the dwg everytime you add a new material then you make a new part number that references the same dwg.

This scheme seems to have taken over in the computer age whereas 50 years ago a lot of the part numbers were the same as the dwg number with a prefix or suffix added on.
 








 
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