Original Date: 04/20/1998
Revision Date: 01/18/2007

ITT Aerospace/Communications Division (A/CD) previously used a hard copy standard components directory and approved parts list. Based on military standard parts and arranged by project or group designs, these guidance tools provided good general information, but lacked part number specifications and tended to become outdated. In addition, external customer requirements drove part specifications, imposed cost restraints, and failed to address specific critical system needs. These issues, plus the trend toward commercial parts, amplified the company’s need for a common parts database. In response, ITT A/CD developed a company wide, on-line Product Design Components Database (PDCD) which contains in-house standard and commercial parts libraries. The PDCD resolved issues and eliminated errors of the previous method, and established an across-the-board part utility tool for ITT A/CD’s customers.

ITT A/CD also developed the Parts List Transfer Utility (PLTU) for Intranet use through Microsoft Access software. The PLTU imports information from source databases (e.g., PDCD, electrical, mechanical) and exports the parts list data to other systems (e.g., material requirements planning, cost database). This utility also provides a cross reference of vendors, customers, and commercial part substitution index numbers, and can generate parts list reports for internal or external use. For easy accessibility of the PLTU, employees use the Top Drawing Index (TDI) tool. Among the TDI tool’s functions are capturing and maintaining product hierarchical family trees and individual components; creating indentured top-down lists of all assemblies required to compose a product; providing search capability; identifying duplicate assemblies or part numbers; and maintaining individual parts cost throughout the utility.

The PLTU is used throughout ITT A/CD from initial design through development to production. This utility establishes a state-of-the-art, real-time access standard parts process and higher reliability for parts usage and operations across all projects. The bill of material (BOM) database is also maintained on the PLTU. This new feature saves numerous hours of labor by eliminating manual data entry and potential human errors. By using its parts list standardization and transfer tools, ITT A/CD now accesses current information, decreases cycle time, reduces risk, and predicts more accurate project costs. The ease of accessibility and real-time control process for continuous updating allows for commercial part substitution across all projects, which has become increasingly significant due to the decreasing part life cycle.

For more information see the Point of Contact for this survey.