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The Paperless Supply Chain
December 31, 1969 |Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
SMT Magazine interviewed David Wolff, president and founder of P.D. Circuits in Hampstead, N.H., to learn about his company's "from the ground up" approach to managing supply chain data. As a distributor of bare boards, P.D. Circuits interacts with customers as well as suppliers, and manages domestic and offshore operations, with offices in Taipei, Taiwan; and Shenzhen, China, supporting business. With the influx of environmental legislation such as RoHS, supply chain transparency has come to the forefront. P.D. Circuits operates almost entirely without paper records, due to its proprietary software system, PDC2006.
SMT: How did the company develop its proprietary software system?Wolff: We've developed and updated the software for about six years, with the help of outside developer Doug MacLean (Ewarenow.com). It began as a three-month project, but the partnership proved to be very strategic and beneficial, so we continued to make the program more comprehensive and user-friendly. It's now integral to our facility; we are about 95% paperless. As we've worked with the software we've made changes and updated versions, based on operator interests and industry changes.
SMT: What motivated you to build a data-management system from the ground up?Wolff: Due to our place in the supply chain, we manage a lot of transactions. I was interested in a supply chain management solution that approached the business from our perspective, not from a software-driven perspective. With this approach, P.D. Circuits was able to control the flow of forms, database set-ups, and other factors. I wanted a custom program that gave us flexibility and efficiency.
SMT: Who uses PDC2006?Wolff: P.D. Circuits employees and independent sales representatives are on the software network. Our China office, which opened in May 2006, operates off the software using a remote desktop. We are taking steps to make the system available to customers and supply partners. Once we've rebuilt the report module to be internet-based, customers and supply partners will be able to see records and order data. As one piece of the supply chain for end customers, we aim to make orders, shipments, etc., as transparent as possible, so that the supply chain functions and is verifiable.
SMT: How has the conversion to lead-free affected the software program?Wolff: Updating the software to include lead-free documentation and clear segregations for compliant and non-compliant product was relatively simple. More important were seminars that P.D. Circuits held to educate customers on what the conversion meant for them, and how to comply with regulations. The EU, China, and California regulations, among others, made the industry focus on tracking and verification, which made a transparent, functional supply chain more important. I support national RoHS legislation for the U.S., to simplify the supply chain. When a customer is based in California, but assembles product in Ohio, for example, then ships product to Massachusetts and the U.K., variations in environmental legislation become far too convoluted.
SMT: What future plans does P.D. Circuits have for this software system?Wolff: Our near-future plans are concentrated on bringing the program onto the internet to increase accessibility for our suppliers and customers. We do plan to sell the program, but we have to do this selectively to ensure that it goes to non-competing industries. We need to protect the competitive edge transparency and verifiable data we have gained from being linked to this program, before we consider distributing it. SMT