Electronic design teams today are challenged by shorter-then-ever, time-to-market requirements and rapidly fluctuating global markets. To deal with these challenges, engineers must understand and mitigate against supply chain risks during the design process.
Around 70-80% of the lifecycle cost for a new product is a direct result of decisions made during the design phase. After all, designers are the ones who create the “blueprint” for everyone else to follow downstream and so they must have access to the right information to make prudent decisions early in the design process.
Factors such as lead times, volume pricing, volume capacity, or logistics are often not consider during this crucial period. To gain and maintain a competitive advantage, design teams need access to real-time supply chain data to assess design choices with cost objectives in mind.
Partnership will provide direct access to components
Altium Limited wants to remedy this issue for its users. The company, a provider of Altium Designers 3D PCB design software, has formed a partnership with Octopart, a provider of an online electronic parts search engine used to find and compare parts from different manufacturers and distributors.
Octopart aggregates and normalizes component data from a growing number of sources providing the most complete and easy-to-use component search for designers covering component search, selection and supply chain needs.
As a first result of the joint activities with Octopart, every Altium Designer user on a current license will get access to a brand new Altium Designer extension, providing immediate access to electronic components from 200+ distributors.
Every Altium Designer user will be able to search the extensive catalog of component suppliers and distributors from Octopart from inside Altium Designer’s schematic editor, early in the design development process.
The Octopart extension for Altium Designer allows users to search for information from a large number of additional distributors. As an integral part of Altium Designer’s “Design to Cost” solution, information from suppliers like Digikey, Farnell, Arrow, Allied, Newark, Mouser or TME is built into the tool.
The Octopart extension for Altium Designer is available for Altium Subscription customers immediately at no extra cost. For more information, visit this blog.
