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Why we built watchlist alerting for electronic parts.
TLDR: You don’t have to watch the electronic parts market anymore and will have more success in procurement than ever. Cofactr tracks changes in the parts market, so you get alerts on supply chain conditions instead of checking the market daily.
While we don’t like to make a habit of tooting our own horn in articles, this one is about alerting so, “Honk honk!”
Night dangers and human innovation
I’ve probably seen it fifty times in TVs and movies: our hero is in dire conditions and needs to know they’re safe, so they run a string around their cabin, tie the ends to a couple of cans, and, batta-bing, they have a way to be alerted if an intruder gets close. A disturbed string and the clang of cans let us know the plot is about to move forward.
What of the intrepid gangs that are without can and string? They patrol. The gang realizes that danger is looming, so they’ll take turns staying awake. They stare unblinkingly into the darkness or walk around the camp to keep the others safe under their watchful eye. Fun fact, if you see this in a movie, you are less than one ‘patrol’ away from catastrophe.
The moral here is that being alerted when things are unsafe works better than trying to see into the unknown with our eyeballs. We’re human! We get distracted, fall asleep, and get pulled away. But we make up for it with smarts and tools! We build shelters and string up cans and wire, build safety systems, and trust microwaves that beep when food is ready and fire alarms that scream at us when we make fries (that one could use some work, actually). If something is critical to your safety or success, or even if it’s just something you’re interested in, you’re probably used to getting alerts when conditions change.
But not if you’re worried about electronics.
Don’t waste time checking the internet
Directors of manufacturing, heads of product, founders of hardware companies, and operations leads spend their time looking at distributor websites trying to track down electronic parts when supply chain conditions aren’t ideal. We’ve heard from senior team members at hardware companies spending 30-40% of their time scrounging the internet looking for parts, checking on pricing, worrying that supply might disappear, or a million other factors related to the well-being of their hardware. Still, parts get bought out from under you, or they appear on the market but are gone before they can be bought. There are a lot of ways things can go wrong, and they often do.
This is why Cofactr built a way to get alerts on supply without trolling the internet or frantically refreshing distributor websites. If you’re worried about electronic parts in any way, Cofactr will track those part's supply chain conditions and let you know if things change.
What is watching the supply chain?
The most obvious use is “There aren’t any of a part available. Let me know if any pop up.” Easy! In watchlists you can make a rule where if any buyable stock of a part appears on any distributor you’ll get an alert via email and on Cofactr.
IF
buyable stock is greater than 0
THEN
Notify me (through email and on Cofactr)
But you can get a lot more nuance out of watchlists! For example:
Let’s say you’re making 10,000 of your product. You want to make sure that the global supply of a part (We’ll call it PartXYZ, a critical part in your PCBA) doesn’t drop below 100,000. You might also want to know if the part gets cheaper. It could be $3/part right now, and maybe if it drops below $2.50/part, you would like to stockpile some. A good deal is a good deal, after all. You can build an alert in Cofactr that is exactly aligned with your concerns with logic-based conditions. In this case:
Regarding PartXYZ
IF
Buyable Stock is less than 100,000
OR
10,000 Piece Buyable Reference Price (the cost they are selling for now) is less than $2.50.
THEN
Notify me (through email and on Cofactr)
Cofactr automatically checks supply chain conditions for hundreds of distributors every day, or even hourly, to see if the conditions have changed. If watchlist conditions are met, users receive a notification in Cofactr and to their email so they can act strategically without wasting time.
Obsessively checking the internet for parts shouldn’t be part of making electronic hardware. With Cofactr, it isn’t.
Stop patrolling for parts. Set up watchlist alerts and get back to innovating.
^This could be you!