A Halloween Fright

Last night was Halloween, and as is traditional at this time of year – here’s a scary story for you – Beware the Googleist!

Picture the scene if you will,

The busy procurement department of an Aerospace OEM, efficiency reigns, a streamlined supply base meets requirements, a steady flow of contracts manage demand and LEAN principles permeate throughout.

And then… a blip.

An old part that hasn’t been purchased for a while is thrown out by the ERM system, there’s no contract in place, no parts incoming.

Mitigation swings into action.
The OEM, fortunately, has a Standard mitigation process for such circumstances – speak to the Manufacturer, speak to their Authorised Distributors and then ask for the help of a Supply Chain Specialist such as Princeps.

Missed LTB Mitigation Process, Speak to the Manufacturer, Speak to the Authorised Distributor and when they wont help – Speak to Princeps

Mitigation flow for missed LTB

So much for the “support” of the authorised distributor – how can they help the OEM when their computer says no…what happened to the PCN…will they go the extra mile to help the OEM?

The excellent alternatives offered by the Supply Chain Specialist provide a pathway out of trouble – but they may take a while to implement and your production are screaming for the parts now!

Enter the Googleist…

There’s nothing that they cant find with a well structured search query and an internet connection, So whether it’s the weather conditions during the 1981 FA Cup Final Replay or the secret to a perfect Yorkshire Pudding, the Googleist can find it and will tell you whether you ask them or not. Lo and behold, within seconds of overhearing you talk about these elusive parts they “nail” it, stock available – thousands of them – just click here for details…

Hopefully the OEM’s system is sufficiently robust, preventing the Googleist’s “sourcing” turning in to orders, transferred funds and potentially lethal parts in use – but clearly some organisations do find themselves so desperate that they take the risk. We are well into the second decade of the great counterfeit deluge, OEMs have greater awareness of the issue than ever before but we still hear a similar story with depressing regularity and it comes from people that should know better by now.

Fortunately we have helped many Googleists realise the error of their ways and prevented some of our customers falling victim to one of the many fraudulent websites or bogus brokers out there.

Princeps will ease your nightmares
Sometimes there is no apparent answer when a part goes obsolete but often there is, sometimes there are no traceable parts and you do have to consider mitigating open market risks, whenever you find yourself in this situation don’t turn to your Googleist, turn to Princeps – a Supply Chain Specialist – to de-risk this minefield for you. Our AS6081 certified Counterfeit Parts Control Plan is one solution, if you have a Googleist in your organisation get them to search for Princeps ASSURE+ to find out how it should be done.