How Cofactr Creates Effective, Reliable Supply Chains for Companies of Every Size

Electronic manufacturers require a platform that provides turnkey data, simplifies procurement processes, and integrates with existing systems to fulfill their needs at every business stage.

However, no tool has been flexible enough to provide all of these services — until now.

With Cofactr, manufacturers of all sizes have the agility to scale production using the same unified platform. Whether you’re a small business, a fast-growing startup, or a mid-market enterprise, Cofactr’s robust platform features and parts data intelligence fulfill all your procurement and logistic needs to establish a resilient supply chain — here’s how.

1. Accessible, turnkey platform for startups and small businesses

Getting to market with innovative, scalable products is a top priority for startups and smaller businesses. With a headcount ranging from two — the average number of founders — to 500 employees and anywhere from $120K to $50M in annual revenue, these smaller-scale companies seek a procurement and logistics solution to secure the best, most cost-effective components early on.

Many smaller-scale businesses have difficulty finding software for their evolving needs before using enterprise-grade platforms. While these solutions promise rich capabilities, they often require costly and time-consuming integrations, decreasing ROI.

Since enterprise-level tools are tailored to streamline larger companies’ existing business functions, they’re typically less suitable for startups and SMBs building reliable supply chain operations from scratch. To achieve their goals, these smaller-scale manufacturers need an accessible, turnkey platform to get to market with scalable product designs—like Cofactr.

Cofactr forms a strong foundation for your procurement and logistics processes so you can:

• Design resilient products: Access Cofactr’s unified compliance, health, and predictive supply chain data to help engineering teams make informed design decisions and resolve any operational disruptions — such as limited parts availability — ahead of time.
• Source the right parts with minimal costs: Based on lead times and pricing, find the ideal procurement strategy for your designs, and save time and effort by purchasing directly within Cofactr’s platform.
• Seamlessly scale production: Keep procurement and logistics processes efficient as your business grows by integrating Cofactr with all your essential tools, including ERP, MRP, and MES.

Neros Technologies is a prime example of the many ways Cofactr supports smaller-scale companies. Thanks to the platform’s rich part data and supply chain risk analysis, Neros streamlined procurement from NPI through production volumes, optimizing unit economics at every scale with high-cost efficiency and saw each batch of manufacturing completed with zero delays from product shortages. As a result, they moved from building early-stage prototypes to manufacturing thousands of units per cycle seamlessly with a lean and effective team.

The best part? As Neros grows, Cofactr continues to support its supply chain processes, integrating with new systems and workflows with minimal lift.

2. Tailored procurement and logistics services for small- and medium-sized enterprises

Every manufacturer needs to keep production running as smoothly as possible — especially mid-market companies with a headcount of one to five thousand employees and revenue between $10M and $1B.

Growth at all costs is essential for these businesses. However, this goal remains elusive as CMs provide services but fluctuating demand or other inconsistencies in manufacturing schedules can strain strategic relationships. If critical parts are procured and owned by a manufacturing partner who is offboarded, those materials can be tied up for months, leaving an organization in a dire situation. In these growth phases, maintaining supply chain ownership of critical materials to facilitate optionality with manufacturers ensures that dynamic market conditions don’t result in an inability to deliver product. This is amplified by ongoing shortages in electronic parts and continued long lead time challenges on production material that continue to linger well above pre-pandemic levels. Small- and medium-sized enterprises need a procurement and logistics platform to meet demand for new launches regardless of the broader supply dynamics.

To help these companies seamlessly navigate unexpected supply chain conditions, Cofactr combines rich data for every part of your BOM, as well as flexible procurement options from hundreds of suppliers in a single solution. These features easily connect to key systems like NetSuite and Business Central with zero IT risk thanks to its robust security measures, including:

• Entirely hosted on GovCloud, the leading cloud solution for verified U.S. government agencies and entities
• Fully compliant with SOC 2 and NIST SP 800-171 standards
• ITAR-registered and subject to regular penetration testing

Once implemented, Cofactr streamlines your procurement processes for hundreds of parts. Simply set your purchase rules, and Cofactr will generate suggested orders based on your target stock levels, cost, and lead times — then review and place your order with a single click.

What’s more, Cofactr helps you avoid potential shortages by sending instant email alerts about changes in your supply chain. These notifications are also available within the platform, keeping production on track with a single source of truth.

3. Low-lift supply chain improvements for enterprises

Detailed, real-time data is essential for a smooth, resilient supply chain regardless of your business stage. But, achieving granular visibility for all key components can be especially challenging for larger-scale manufacturers with thousands of employees and over one billion in annual revenue. In fact, a 2022 survey by Ernst & Young LLP (EY US) revealed that only 37% of companies with more than a billion in revenue increased supply chain visibility from 2020 to 2022, with 61% of these companies making it a top priority for the next 12-36 months.

To streamline their procurement and logistics processes, manufacturers of this caliber need a robust platform with actionable supply chain insights. However, integrating a solution within their ecosystems often requires complex, time-intensive implementation cycles to ensure information has been accurately consolidated across multiple tools and legacy software.

Compared to other solutions, Cofactr can enhance the supply chain efficiency for larger-scale clients before fully integrating with their systems. Its procurement and logistics platform works by incrementally connecting with existing tools, consistently saving valuable time and costs. These small, manageable changes also facilitate smooth implementation regardless of your tech stack or part library size—even for businesses with over 100,000 components, in Cofactr’s experience.

But, Cofactr’s value reaches further than seamless integration. Its centralized platform helps clients of all sizes make strategic, data-driven decisions in three major ways:

1. Provides compliance, health, and supply chain insights for over 250M parts to boost sourcing efficiency and minimize risk in your BOM
2. Syncs part data from hundreds of suppliers and shipping services, as well as your internal systems, so you always have accurate, real-time information about your stock levels and parts in transit
3. Cofactr’s DocAI — the only ITAR-compliant document extraction system built for electronics manufacturers — extracts all valuable data from thousands of unique documents (POs, packing slips, certificates of conformity) for full procurement transparency

Cofactr’s solution for smaller enterprises continues to support NPI processes while keeping systems of record accurate. Large enterprises that use Cofactr maintain better processes for spend with COTS (Commercial Off The Shelf) distributors, vendor relationships for custom components, and financial reporting.

This end-to-end data visibility unlocks new opportunities for higher efficiency across existing and upcoming products — bypassing the need for complex and time-intensive implementation.

Build a resilient supply chain and grow your business with Cofactr

Cofactr is the only tool agile enough to evolve with your business at every stage — from smaller companies to mid-market and even larger enterprises aiming to streamline procurement and logistic operations.

With Cofactr’s turnkey procurement and logistics features, flexible workflows, and valuable supply data, you can create a resilient supply chain and scale effectively.

Ready to launch new products and optimize your production processes? Book a demo today.