The Do’s and Don’ts of Using Online Manufactured Product Catalogs

When ThomasNet, the venerable publishing company founded in 1898, announced in April 2008 that it “has printed its last paper edition of industrial supplier directories and migrated its entire business onto the Internet,” it might just be time for all industrial suppliers to do the same.

Not only are design engineers searching online, but as ThomasNet explained, “it’s because users no longer use print directories when easily accessible online directories are available.” Paper catalogs are or have been superseded—but it’s important to note what design engineers should look for in an online product catalog that replaces the paper catalog. 

The manufactured products market exceeds $15 trillion annually worldwide, of which ~$4 trillion (T) annually is in the U.S.—about one-third of the U.S. GDP. About half of the $4T, consists of standard off-the-shelf engineering parts—bearings, springs, fasteners, etc. and engineered assemblies—gear boxes, engines, compressors, etc. while the other $2T is final products sold to consumers (see Figure 1). Companies in the yellow and orange boxes as well as many in the blue box produce printed catalogs and about 50 percent1 PDF catalogs online, but only about 5 percent so far have digital searchable catalogs online. For efficiency benefits, almost all engineers, designers and buyers now search for and compare products (components and assemblies) online.2 As a result, online searchable catalogs are replacing printed catalogs and the trend is accelerating as customers familiar with the ease of use of successful Web sites (e.g. Google, Yahoo, eBay, etc.) expect manufacturers’ catalogs to have equivalent ease of use features such as downloadable 3D CAD models, refined attribute searching and 3D configurators of complex parts and assemblies. So how do design engineers choose which online catalogs to use or vendors choose which online catalog capabilities to offer? The answer is to use those that most effectively apply the capabilities of online media to make design and engineering more efficient.

The Do’s of Using Online Digital Catalogs

• Do fully use the search capabilities of digital catalogs—compared with paper catalogs or PDF file versions of paper catalog, searchable online catalogs enable searching and sorting by attributes (e.g. dimensions, materials, finishes, configurations, performance criteria, etc.). Designers can rapidly search for the part attributes that are important in each new design. In the case of spare parts, use exploded part views with ‘hot-spots’ to help select parts or part number searches—modern catalogs sometimes cover their own as well as competitors part numbers.

• Do use product comparison capabilities in the catalog to rapidly compare selected products.

• Do download product detail pages to keep selected component information with other design docs.

• Do use industrial suppliers’ downloadable CAD models to save design time rather than draw them yourself—2D and 3D models in standard CAD interchange formats with associated attributes (manufacturer, part number, etc) included so components are readily identified and ordered when buyers later source the components of your new design.

• Do fill out e-mail registration for CAD downloads—this particularly saves you time if they track and offer email ‘alerts’ if a model you have downloaded gets changed or replaced by a new product.  Have key data pushed to you when change happens.

• Do use online eCommerce capabilities—for efficiency and effectiveness submit RFQs by e-mail from the catalog site, order samples online or place full supply orders.

• Do use catalogs that are integrated with suppliers back-office systems so all data is up-to-date, not only product details and CAD but also product pricing and stock availability information.

• Do use Search Engines and manufacturing industry portals, such as GlobalSpec, ThomasNet, MFG.com, etc., to find possible suppliers—online competition is bringing you more choice so use it.

The Don’ts of Using Online Digital Catalogs

• Don’t use catalogs not specifically designed for manufactured products—there are lots of catalog software available, though not many specifically designed for manufactured parts. Manufactured parts catalogs accommodate a high volume of attributes per part and searching, sorting and comparing appropriate to help the designers find the parts they need quickly and easily.

• Don’t use catalogs that do not offer downloadable CAD models—select suppliers based on the availability of CAD models of parts that will save you design time.

• Don’t accept simple PDF catalogs—avoid vendors who make users download a PDF file of a paper catalog then hunt for the part via a traditional index. A competitor’s digital catalog will probably be much easier to use.

• Don’t accept out-of-date data—including parts specs, CAD models and pricing—expect online catalogs to always be up-to-date in contrast to printed catalogs that are often out-of-date soon after printing.

The internet affords design engineers new opportunities for greater efficiency—product search and comparison, up-to-date online catalogs rather than potentially out-of-date paper ones, downloadable CAD rather than drawing parts yourself, instant up-to-date prices and stock availability, submitting RFP and RFQs online, etc. Manufacturers have recognized the trend and are increasingly offering online searchable catalogs and downloadable CAD models instead of, or as well as printed catalogs. Design engineers should exploit these efficiency opportunities for competitive advantage—before their competitors do.

John Major is CEO of Catalog Data Solutions (San Jose, CA). He has led the development of three generations of manufacturing catalog and CAD download software. Visit the Web site at www.catalogdata solutions.com.
Notes
1. Google/ThomasNET November 2005 survey
2. GlobalSpec Summer 2005 Survey