Yes, I understand that just as your company may not
implement an ordering process that easily allows
selection by certain product criteria, other companies
who may be your indirect suppliers possibly don't either.
One could use that justification all the way up the
chain of distribution / channel until you get to INTEL
who DOES really make it quite easy to distinguish
and 100% certainly keeps the information in THEIR
inventory control / fulfillment databases. They send out
PCNs / Product Change Notifications and must keep
supplying very specific revisions to customers that have
dependence on one revision or another until the customer
agrees to change, or the purchase contract expires, or
the product is END-OF-LIFE.
However it's no unusual thing to keep track of multiple
attributes of a single model of product. In the IC
distribution business for ICs not sold directly to
consumers one can very typically select / purchase
by:
Part model
Individual Package Type
Temperature range
Lot code
Packaging (Tape & Reel, tray, tube, etc. etc.)
and about ten other factors.
Intel did the right thing and made it possible for any/all
subsidiary customers to get information about the
particular product(s) revisions / lot numbers / date
codes / serial numbers / PROD CODE / MM Number
etc. And it's just a choice of the recipients (e.g. resellers/
distributors/customers) if they want to IGNORE the
information they're presented with or not.
Well that's not entirely true. I'm sure pretty much
every company out there keeps track of
a) THEIR OWN SKU/PLU for an item
b) Their SUPPLIERS SKU/PLU for an item
c) The OEM's part number for the item
d) The bar code(s)/UPC code(s) they choose to use.
e) Any applicable RFID codes for the products
f) Serial numbers for warranty/product recall/RMA/
auditing purposes.
g) Product receipt date for taxation / warranty / QA /
statistical purposes.
h) Product expiration / return-by dates.
i) Price paid for the item from the supplier
j) Own advertised price for item
etc. etc. so clearly it's not exactly unusual to
track a wide variety of information for any given product,
and for some of that information to be inherited from the
vendor/manufacturer, and for other aspects of the
information to be originated / determined / tracked
soley by the particular vendor.
There's no reason why at any point a vendor can't
create another SKU/PLU for a given version of a product
if they want; in fact that often seems to happen given
the way people set up rebates or bundles or whatever.
Well INTEL doesn't change its steppings that often
either; maybe once every 6 months is probably average.
Also the MM number, PROD CODE, FPO/BATCH#
is JUST as easily scanned -- look here:
http://www.clubit.com/products/500x500/A1938452_4.jpg
The BAR CODES for all those things are RIGHT on the
label, right next to the human readable printouts of
the very same information. Everything one could want to
know except maybe the individual serial number and
I wouldn't be surprised if that was scannable too.
So if you're scanning or doing data entry for ANYTHING
for the products, the other information is
RIGHT THERE TOO. It doesn't get much easier than that.
Certainly for warranty/RMA purposes I'm sure you're
scanning/doing data entry of the SERIAL # etc., so
there's no real reason to wait until something ships
to enter that information into the inventory control
system when it could be (and may already be) done
in advance.
Well usually the IC manufacturers allow any of their
direct clients to specify what requirements their
products have, though if they don't indicate a need for
a certain fixed version, yes, they'll get any version.
Well, that's certainly your and any vendor's right to
do business that way. All I'm saying is it's silly in this
day and age of B2B, XML, RFID, Bar codes, electronic
inventory databases, Just In Time ordering, etc. etc.
for simple and relevant product revision/model information
not to be ubiquitously tracked and known when the OEM
clearly considers the distinctions important and works
to publish that information for the USE of THEIR channel /
distributors customers who evidentally all just ignore it.
Yes, that's the annoying and unnecessary part. All it
takes is for the channel to start caring about these
kinds of inventory / quality control details and voila,
it'd all be available in the ordering / inventory system.
Ah well, I guess part roulette can be a fun game for some.
Spin the wheel, take your chances.
Of course. I wouldn't expect for a minute for someone to
have to be a computer whiz to fulfill an order. I'd expect
it to all be in the sales / inventory / order management
system just like the price, the manufacturer, the MHz,
the model number, the stock availability, etc. so I could
just call up and say "I'd like a BX80562Q6600SLACR,
please", and that'd be typed into the order system and
everything else would be 100% automatic.
Your sales/warehouse people don't need to care about
UPCs or the difference between a Q6600 and a Q6700
either, but when I order one they should be able to
fulfill the order or tell me there's no stock or whatever.
Well I don't personally know if they keep the UPC
or EAN or MODEL codes different for the different ones,
but from the bar codes and labels I see with my own
eyes EVERY other text / bar code on the package DOES
tell the difference; I don't know what codes are "orderable"
and which are not.
Well there are lots of things that are considered important and are tracked.
Some things may be ignored by some vendors in the channel, but for the most
part if they don't consider something important it's by CHOICE, not for lack of
having the bar coded and e-commerce/B2B/etc. information which Intel clearly can
and does provide.
The information is there for any vendor at any point in the chain to track / use,
if they desired to do so.
Certainly by the time you ship something your inventory / invoice / transaction database
gets updated with purchaser, serial number, which unit(s) from inventory have been
sold and need restocking, etc. If it's ULTIMATELY going to get recorded, there's
seemingly not much reason to do it as the last step vs. the first.
Well, that's my point, it's something that's RELEVANT to distinguish in the
customer's and INTEL's own eyes; so that's why it's nice to have the conversation
with one's suppliers to ask about getting such information in a more efficient,
streamlined, and useful way. If INTEL's distributors asked them for RFID
tags or 2D bar codes or XML ordering systems or whatever I'm sure INTEL would
work it out with them and start to provide information that was desirable and useful
to its customers. And, similarly if you had an inefficiency of transactions
with your vendors, you'd ask them to work with you to improve the scheme.
And as customers, incidents and opportunities like this one give NCIX and other Retailers / eTailers
valuable feedback from their most enthusiastic and acute customers as to what
would constitute better service and support.
Well, maybe, but that's nothing that's fixed in stone, just because that's the process that's
customary doesn't mean that it's the only possible option. I wouldn't be too surprised
if INGRAM, MERISEL, ARROW, AVNET, or whoever are larger distributors for INTEL didn't keep
track of all the barcoded bits and more and have options for their customers to access/request/use
that information in making an order.
Anyway that's also the distinction between being an e-Tailer and a brick & mortar vendor;
you're SUPPOSED to have some ability to get all the kinds of basic 'stupid' "look and feel"
questions from customers. "Is it shiny? Is it heavy? What's the model number?
What's the price? What's the warranty? Does the box say it supports VISTA?"
etc. etc. The customer CAN'T look at the products and get an impression from the
packaging / labeling / etc. before purchase, so to compete with Brick and Mortar retailers
it's helpful to be able to answer those kinds of questions about version / appearance /
compatibility / whatever.
Sure you don't HAVE to, but from all the thousands of people trying to do preorders /
specific orders / etc. for certain STEPPING / LOT / BATCH products here, it's
certainly a customer service capability that's in real ongoing demand.
And that's an unfortunate thing, in my opinion, for whatever it's worth.
Hopefully enough people as customers and in the channel will realize this,
communicate, and work to improve quality control and transparency of product
specifications.
Yes, thank you for your detailed response.
Hopefully vendors like your organization and many others will always
strive to pursue "continual improvement" and look for such opportunities
to innovate, improve, add capability, responsiveness, efficiency, etc.
Maybe one day it'll be easier that it currently seems to be to know what one's actually
getting when one orders something.
Thanks again and best regards; I'm sure that NCIX already does have lots
of happy customers that have gotten G0 CPUs; it's just kind of ironic / unfortunate
that it's more of a matter of luck and accident than a predictable process.
Originally Posted by The Nemesis
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