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Monday, June 18, 2001
For Immediate Release
For more information contact:
Stéphane P. Des Lauriers
Corporate Communications
Precience, Inc.
Tel: +1 (301) 421-9054
E-mail: stephaned@precience.com
PRECIENCE RELEASES OBSOLESCENCE MANAGER
Burtonsville, Md., June 18, 2001 – Precience, Inc., has released the Obsolescence Manager™ system helping OEMs mitigate electronic component availability risks at the front end of the product lifecycle, and throughout. The system acts as a watchdog against end-of-life (EOL) announcements having an impact on such components as semiconductors, ASICs, or hybrids in all of the user's uploaded Bills of Materials (BOMs) and ensures that users remain informed as to their risks at all times by using an e-mail-based alert system that sends timely notifications. Notification can be customized for individual BOMs thereby ensuring that engineers, product managers and procurement managers are all informed of foreseeable future supply chain issues that can be proactively addressed before they become critical. By providing access to such critical business information at the front end, the Obsolescence Manager system improves what are often inefficient business processes throughout the product lifecycle.
The Web-based system features an online catalog of electronic components from over 1,100 worldwide manufacturers in a diversity of market sectors, including: telecommunications, computer, industrial, military, and consumer electronics. It is the most up-to-date source of information, bar none. Furthermore, because neither Precience™ nor Total Parts Plus, Inc., the content provider, sells electronic components, the online catalog provides completely unbiased information. This Web-based system offers unique forecasting capabilities originally developed for the United States Air Force that have recently been made available for commercial use.
Since BOMs are generated by OEM design engineers from their design files, the Obsolescence Manager system allows them to identify potential component availability and obsolescence problems before they occur by researching electronic components at the time of design according to various criteria such as: form-fit-function, production status, EOL notices, projected availability in future years, and availability risk assessment.
Once a semiconductor component availability issue is identified, users can mitigate their obsolescence exposure by cross-referencing parts according to base part number, generic die, or form-fit-function. The system then allows the user to view form-fit-function part number listings for potential replacement parts. EOL notices and forecasted obsolescence risks are also displayed for potential replacement parts in order to identify the least risky replacement component option. Aftermarket sources for obsolete components also are identified by the system. Obsolescence forecasting is based on a unique algorithm that considers numerous variables including the type of technology, the number of suppliers, as well as global demand trends.
Obsolescence Manager is the result of broad agreements recently reached by Precience and Total Parts Plus whereby both companies agreed to collaborate in producing a new breed of Internet-aware software tools aimed at delivering decision support information directly to the people who make superior designs work. According to Ahmed Khan, president and CEO of Precience, “These agreements provide us with access to unbiased obsolescence and cross-referencing content that is critical to our customers’ product design and lifecycle management."
The Obsolescence Manager system is the first in a series of new electronic design automation (EDA) Design Supply Chain™ integration technology products to be released over the next several quarters.
Total Parts Plus, a subsidiary of Manufacturing Technology, Inc. (MTI), markets its own suite of obsolescence management tools under its own brand. According to Jeff Arnett, vice president of sales of Total Parts Plus: “These agreements provide us with access to Precience’s design automation sales channel as well as a means to deliver obsolescence content directly to design engineers via unique cross-platform EDA integration technology. It just makes sense to eliminate avoidable supply chain problems by helping design engineers make the best possible component selections at the beginning of the design process."
Pricing and Availability
Priced to be affordable by OEMs of any size, the Obsolescence Manager system is sold by annual subscription to a hosted Web service. The system is available on any platform supporting Internet Explorer or Netscape Web browsers versions 4.0 and up. The U.S. list price for an annual floating subscription/license is $9,995. Interested users are encouraged to visit our Web site and download an unrestricted license for a seven-day trial.
Precience is a leading worldwide developer of EDA Design Supply Chain integration technology products including
PCBNavigator® 3.0. Precience is a privately held company established in 1995 with corporate headquarters at 4040 Blackburn Lane, Suite 180, Burtonsville, Maryland, 20866. To learn more about Precience and its products, please visit the Precience Web site at
http://www.precience.com. For further information contact Precience at (301) 421-9054, or via e-mail at
info@precience.com.
Total Parts Plus is a wholly owned subsidiary of Manufacturing Technology, Inc. (MTI), a privately held company with corporate headquarters in Fort Walton Beach, Florida.
Precience, ahead of time, the Precience logo, PartNavigator, Design Supply Chain, Obsolescence Manager, and PCBNavigator are trademarks or registered marks of Precience, Inc. All other trademarks or registered marks are the property of their respective holders.
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