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Changelog

Apr

07

Create Expected Stock Lots in Add to Shipment Dialog

FeatureWarehouse App
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If you are generating a record of an incoming kit of parts, there is now the option to automatically generate expected stock lots for all parts that are not already in stock. This workflow is ideal for manufacturers who are receiving a full or partial kit of consigned parts from their customer or a 3rd party.

Purchasing: Color Coded Partial Availability

Improvement
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If a price/lead time option doesn't include all of the requested parts, the text indicating that info is now color-coded yellow to highlight that this is a partial option.

Kitting & Shipping: New Shipment Types

FeatureKitting & Shipping App

The Shipping functionality in Cofactr now supports multiple kinds of shipments for different kitting & shipping use cases:

Shipping from a Warehouse to Somewhere Else

This is the default shipment type that you are used to. It is used for scheduling shipments from a facility that uses Cofactr's Warehouse App, such as Cofactr's Warehouse or a Cofactr-enabled contract manufacturer.

Shipping from a Non-Warehouse Facility

This is used for recording a shipment or transfer between facilities that are not running the Cofactr Warehouse app, such as two of your offices. It is also used for informing us that you are shipping materials to the Cofactr Warehouse.

Kit Transfer

This is used by Warehouse-App enabled facilities to organize kitting within your facility for release to the production line. This option will not be visible for orgs or users without Warehouse App access.

Warehouse App: De-Kit Mode

FeatureWarehouse App
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For production facilities that have a workflow where excess parts are returned to inventory after each production run, we now offer a De-Kit mode that allows you to scan a stock lot, receive automatically calculated suggestions for the expected remaining quantity of stock, and save that adjustment in one easy step.

Production Runs: Warning for Alt Part Conflicts

ImprovementProduction App

Having the same part in multiple lines of a production run can leed to incorrect calculations for supply chain and inventory availability. We now show a warning when this happens so you can fix the issue proactively.

Orders App: Ignore Cancelled Lines in Order Totals

ImprovementOrders App

Canceled lines are now ignored when calculating order subtotals and totals.

Stock App: Fixed Incorrect Notifications for MSL Reset Required

Bug FixStock App

We discovered a bug in our recently launched feature that notifies you when you have stock that needs an MSL reset bake, where the alert would be triggered for stock lots that no longer exist (IE, they have a quantity of 0). This bug has been squashed.

Apr

05

Warehouse App: Receive & Kit Workflow

FeatureWarehouse App
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We now offer a combined receive and kit workflow for CM Warehouse App users that allows you to receive and check incoming consigned materials and kit them into a production kit with a single scan.

Production Runs: Auto-Populate Key Shipment Info

ImprovementProduction App

Need by date and notes such as job number are now automatically populated for shipments that are generated from a production run.

Warehouse App: Merge Lines

Warehouse App

Use Case

Contract manufacturer who is receiving an inbound kit from a customer. One or more parts arrive and aren't the same part number that was expected. This results in an expected stock lot that won't ever arrive and an on-hand stock lot that isn't correctly associated with reference designator information for that kit.

Feature

  1. Navigate to a draft shipment/kit ("cancel" if needed)

  2. Navigate to the Stock Lots tab

  3. Select the Expected and On Hand stock lots using the check boxes

  4. Click the merge button

This will:

  1. Reassign the On Hand stock lot to the shipment line associated with the Expected stock lot, including any relevant printed notes such as job number or reference designators

  2. Delete the Expected stock lot

Watchlists: Part Lifecycle Alerting

FeatureWatchlist App
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Part Lifecycle Status is now an option when creating a watchlist subscription. Worried about a critical part being End-of-Lifed? Just add it to your watchlist, and you'll receive a notification as soon as there are any changes to its lifecycle status.

Mar

29

Stock App: Notification for Part MSL Resets

FeatureStock App
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Parts with an MSL of 2 or greater need to have their MSL exposure tracked and need to be slowly baked out to reset their MSL floor life after excess or unknown exposure to ambient moisture. (For more info on MSL, check out this blog post)

The Cofactr platform tracks MSL floor life for all your Stock Lots. We now provide a weekly notification if any of your parts need an MSL reset in order to be ready for production.

You can always request an MSL reset for parts by clicking the MSL reset button (it looks like a water droplet with a line through it) within the Stock Lots view. If you enable MSL Reset on Receipt within your Inventory Preferences, we will proactively perform these MSL reset bakes for you.

Mar

25

Label Printing in Stock App

FeatureStock AppWarehouse App
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If you have a printer configured within the Warehouse App and you have access and permissions to the Warehouse App, there is now the option to print Stock Location, and Stock Lot labels from within the Kitting & Shipping and Stock Apps.

Fixed Purchasing from a Part Quote

Bug FixQuoting App

In certain circumstances, attempting to make a purchase of parts in a quote via the shopping cart icon within the quotes table would fail, and the dialog would just close before you had a chance to confirm the purchase. We have fixed this bug.

Creating Customer Parts

BOM AppFeaturePart Library AppPart Search AppWarehouse App
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We have added the option to create your own parts within the Cofactr platform.

You can access this feature by:

  • Searching for a part in the Part Search App

  • Searching for a part in any dialog that includes a Part selector such as Create Stock Lot, Add BOM Line, etc

  • Searching for a part in the Receive view of the Warehouse App

  • Uploading a BOM with a part that does not match any parts in our database

What can custom parts be used for today?

  • Customer parts can be added to BOMs and part lists

  • Customer parts can be used to create Stock Lots

  • Stock Lots of a customer part can be used the same way that all other Stock Lots can be used, including in Kitting & Shipping and Production Runs,

  • Quote Requests can be created for a customer part. If the part is from a major manufacturer, we will be able to handle these Quote Requests. If the part is truly custom, like a specific bare board, we may not be able to process that Quote Request

What is on the roadmap for custom parts?

  • Central library to manage your custom parts

  • Edit and upload images and documents for custom parts

  • Automatically generate custom parts from integrations with your PLM or ERP

  • Add customer part numbers and other data to non-customer parts that are already in the Cofactr database

Do I have access to customer parts?

Customer parts are currently available with the following plans:

  • Cofactr Supply Chain Platform - Enterprise

  • Cofactr Supply Chain Platform - Team

Part List: Upload Parts

FeaturePart Library App
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We have added the ability to upload a CSV or Excel file of part data to a part list. This is an identical workflow to uploading a CSV or Excel file of a BOM.

Production Runs: New Part Status UI

ImprovementProduction App
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We have updated the UI for statuses when viewing Parts in a Production Run.

These are now more detailed statuses for Procurement, Stock, Allocations, and Shipments.

Clicking the + icon for the row reveals additional information about each of these statuses.

Warehouse App: Support for New Digi-Key Barcodes

ImprovementWarehouse App

Digi-Key recently changed how they encode the data in their barcodes. We have updated the barcode parsing logic in the Warehouse App Receive view to support these new barcodes. The system remains backward compatible with all older Digi-Key barcode labels as well.

Stock App: Edit Stock Lot Prices

ImprovementStock App
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We have added the ability to edit the price paid for a stock lot after it has been created in the Cofactr system. This is useful for ensuring that your inventory cost reports are correct

Org Settings: Sub-Orgs

FeatureOrganization Settings App
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We now support the option to create discrete sub-organizations within your Cofactr organization.

What's the use of sub-orgs?

  • For OEMs: keeping the data associated with separate teams or departments siloed from each other

  • For CM/EMS: keeping the data (and inventory) associated with separate customers siloed from each other

  • Allowing just certain data to be shared with certain users, such as outside contractors

What is the same about a normal org and a sub-org?

  • Each sub-org is a fully separate org with no data shared between sub-orgs or the main org.

  • You can add and remove users from a sub-org, just like you can for a normal org.

  • You can seamlessly switch between sub-orgs via the Active Org dropdown at the top of the page.

  • Each org or sub-org supports unlimited users.

What is different about a sub-org versus a normal org?

  • When you create a sub-org, all users from the parent org will automatically be given permissions for the sub-org.

  • You can view all related sub-orgs in the Sub Orgs tab of the Organization Settings app.

  • By default, all charges related to a sub-org will be billed to the parent org. If you would prefer to have some or all of the sub-orgs configured with separate billing info, please get in touch with Cofactr support, and we can set that up for you.

What is on the roadmap for sub-orgs?

  • More intuitive and convenient centralized management of user permissions across all your sub-orgs, including integrations with external directory services

  • Centralized views and reporting across sub-orgs

  • Features to transfer and share records such as BOMs and inventory between sub-orgs

Do I have access to sub-orgs?

Sub-orgs are currently available with the following plans:

  • Cofactr Supply Chain Platform - Enterprise

Stock App: Stock Lot Property Editing

ImprovementStock App
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We have added the option to edit any property of a stock lot from within the Stock Lots view.

If you have Warehouse App and/or Stock App edit permissions for the physical location that the stock lot is in, you will be able to edit all properties. If the stock lot is located somewhere that you don't have full permissions for, but you do have Stock App edit permissions in general, you will still be able to edit fields such as Notes, Manufacturer Lot ID, and Date Code.

These editing options are also all now available within the Stock Lot view of the Warehouse App on both desktop and mobile.

Updates to Integrations with Distributor APIs

Improvement

Under certain circumstances, we were receiving and displaying stale supply data that was sent to us by various distributor APIs. We have updated some of our ingestion logic to reduce the chances of this happening.

New Add Parts to Shipment UI

Improvement
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We've released a new and improved UI for adding parts from a BOM or Part List to one or more shipments.

New features include:

  • If the Ship To destination has handling requirements configured in Cofactr, such as stock lot splicing or inspections, those will automatically be used in the Add to Shipment process and the associated handling tasks will automatically be generated

  • There is now a detailed breakdown of the stock lot assignments and associated handling tasks that will be generated when you click Add to Shipment, so you know what the system will do before it does it.

  • If the system is unable to find a suitable matching stock lot for one or more parts, there is a detailed breakdown explaining what's going on

Feb

28

Cofactr, but make it apps!

Announcement
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The Cofactr platform does many things. Maybe you need all of those things, or maybe you don't. Probably you don't need all of them at once.

We have massively reorganized the Cofactr platform into a new app-based navigation scheme. This is intended to make the platform easier to navigate and more customizable for our users. If you have feedback or trouble finding anything, please don't hesitate to reach out!

Warning for Possibly Inaccurate Part Attrition Calculations

Improvement
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Sometimes, our overage for assembly attrition calculator doesn't have enough technical data for a specific part to accurately calculate the correct overage requirements. Usually, this is because the package property is missing in the specification data that we receive from distributors. Rather than silently taking a guess, we now show a warning indicator next to the calculated overage to indicate that there is missing info. In Production Runs, you can click on the total to manually enter a new total quantity required. You can also always contact Cofactr support to request that we manually enter this package data for you to enable the correct automatic calculation.

Supplier Listings: Factory Lead Column

Improvement
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You can now toggle on a Factory Lead column in any supplier listing datagrid to view the reported backorder lead time for parts, whether or not that supplier has any current stock.

Stock Lot Locations Improved

Improvement
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Stock lot locations now show "In Transit → {name of facility}" for stock lots that are in transit and "{name of facility} ({name of specific location})" for lots that are in a facility. This replaces the ">" that used to indicate the specific location and was confusing.

Quick Search for Related Records

Improvement
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Related Records columns are now searchable in all datagrids.

Handling Task Completion Estimates Update Automatically

Bug Fix

There was a bug where handling tasks would show an incorrect estimated completion date if they were created on an order that was subsequently delayed. This has been fixed so that their estimated completion date will automatically recalculate anytime the estimated delivery date for the associated order updated.

Production Runs: Fixed Work Forward Estimated Dates

Bug Fix

There was a bug where the estimated date for Parts On Hand for a Work-Forward Production Run would show as one day in the future, even if all of the parts are already on hand. This has been fixed.

Feb

08

New BOM & Shopping List UIs

Improvement
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We have revamped the interface for BOM and Shopping List Parts views. The old Part, Supply, and Inventory tabs have been consolidated into a single, improved Datagrid with shortcuts to hide and show the relevant columns for each view.

Clicking the + button for each row now allows you to view inventory records and more detailed purchasing data including open Sourcing Requests, Quotes, and Order History by part.

Stock Lot: Track & View Price Paid, Landed Cost Report

Feature
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Tracking Price Paid for a Stock Lot

When creating a stock lot that you purchased outside of Cofactr, the New Stock Lot dialog now has optional fields for you to track the unit price and landed unit price that you paid for those parts.

Viewing Price Paid for a Stock Lot

When you are viewing the detail view for a specific Stock Lot, the Lot Ledger tab now displays the unit price and landed unit price that you paid for those parts. If you create the Stock Lot manually, those fields will display the data you entered when creating the Stock Lot. If you purchase the Stock Lot using Cofactr, those fields will automatically display data calculated from the order record.

Landed Cost Reporting

Within a Production Run that has been Completed, you can view Related Records > Stock Lots to see the calculated costing for the parts that went into the run.

BOM Upload: Ignore Invalidly Short MPNs

Improvement

When uploading a BOM, manufacturer part numbers or alternative parts with few than 3 characters will be ignored. This is because there are no valid part numbers with only 1 or 2 characters, but we occasionally have seen BOMs that use "-" or "--" in empty cells. In those instances, the system will now ignore those invalid characters instead of attempting to parse them into a part match.

Datagrids: Uniform price decimal points

Improvement
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Unit prices now uniformly display 4 decimal places and total prices now uniformly display 2 decimal places. This is intended to increase the readability of large pricing grids. All prices are stored and calculated with up to 8 decimal points under the hood, so this change does not impact pricing precision, just how the numbers are displayed in Datagrids.

Feb

07

Stock Lots: Open Handling Column

Feature
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In most places where stock lots are displayed, there is now a Handling column that shows open handling tasks and shipments associated with that stock lot. These will be greyed out if the task/shipment is in draft status or blue if it is approved and in process.

Shipments: New Shipment Line UI

Improvement
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We have redesigned the shipment lines view to group Stock Lots by related part, and show related Handling Tasks in line for each part. Hopefully this will make it a bit easier to understand what is going on with a shipment and if you prefer the old interface, you can still access it via the Stock Lots tab within the shipment.

Revamped Datagrids

Improvement
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Everywhere you might see datagrids in the platform, which is a lot of places, they are now a little bit nicer. New features include:

  • Handy dandy reset button to restore all defaults for column visibility, order, sorting, and filtering

  • Shortcut buttons in BOM, Shopping List, and Production Run Part views to recall preset column configurations such as default columns, supply related columns, and inventory related columns

  • General performance improvements

BOM: Status Color Coding

Improvement
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The status chips for each line in a BOM are a button (pro tip: if you didn't know that, try clicking one!) and they become disabled when the BOM is locked. Previously, they would turn a grey color like other buttons do when they are disabled. This is annoying. Now their color becomes muted, but they are still color coded.

Create/Edit Stock Location Dialog: Split Stock Lot Toggle

Improvement
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There used to be a toggle called "Consume Stock." This was a very confusing toggle. We have renamed it to "Split Stock Lots" and updated the explanation copy to clarify better what the heck this toggle actually means.

Purchasing Optimizer: Availability Options

Improvement
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The purchasing optimizer in BOMs, Shopping Lists, and Production Runs now provides an additional dimension of availability.

Previous Behavior

The optimizer would determine the list of all possible buyable parts and then provide price and lead time options for that list of buyable parts. If a subset of the parts were available with a shorter lead time, that would not be displayed unless you manually set a Maximum Lead Time

New Behavior

All possible price and lead time options will be shown, even if only some of the parts are available at the faster lead times. The optimizer will indicate which parts are available at each of the lead times.

Account Preferences: Default Shipping Method

Improvement
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Under Account>Preferences, you can now configure a default shipping method. This default will automatically be applied to all new shipments and production runs.