Can anyone recommend a stock control prog for components ?

nurquhar · Joined: 05 Aug 2006 Posts: 149 Location: Redditch, UK

I appologise if this is bit "off topic" but I am sure many of you out there have the same problem.

ie after few years of tinkering in your shed with all sorts of electronic components you soon get to the point of not being able to remember what parts you bought, how many you used, where you put the rest and how many you still have. Indeed I offten find myself buying another 50 resistors because I can't recall if I had any or how many were left over, or even worse not ordering something because you thought you had some. But can't find them !

The soloution to this seem to be a simple stock control program so you can add what you ordered, log which box you put them in and subtract the parts you use.

I am therefore curious if anyone has found such a simple inventory control program, which is either shareware or very cheep, ie less than $200 ?

I have tried to use a simple spreadsheet list but I find I get lost off with updating the totals and not been able to take account of project allocations or when/if I updated stuff.

drh · Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2007 8:08 am

Not sure if this is what you want. Look at "Parts & Vendors".
web site www.trilogydesign.com
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SherpaDoug · Joined: 07 Sep 2003 Posts: 1640 Location: Cape Cod Mass USA

I have also used Parts & Vendors for a couple of small companies and it has worked fine.
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The search for better is endless. Instead simply find very good and get the job done.

nurquhar · Joined: 05 Aug 2006 Posts: 149 Location: Redditch, UK

Does it do standard inventory type stuff as well as managing parts list ?

SherpaDoug · Joined: 07 Sep 2003 Posts: 1640 Location: Cape Cod Mass USA

I have never been an accounting or stock clerk type, but Parts & Vendors seemed to do everything I asked of it. It has been a few years since i used it. Now I use Peachtree at a bigger company and it seems to be a pain in the butt.

Download the P&V demo and play with it.
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The search for better is endless. Instead simply find very good and get the job done.

pklee2954 · Joined: 06 Nov 2006 Posts: 5

if you failed with XLS sheet, likely u will fail with any other software. this is my opinion based on my experience in my lab. this is very much linked to discipline and convenience.

How i got around it with my stocks, pcbs? use the good old stock card. but since the stock card is too big to fit into the component racks, do little sticky-sized cards and insert together with the components. And once in every while, take out all the stock cards and summarise in your xls or yet another super stock card.

The key to stock keeping is Convenience and not super duper programs.

nurquhar · Joined: 05 Aug 2006 Posts: 149 Location: Redditch, UK

The problem is not so much that I can't be bothered to update the records but one of traceablity. ie my XLS list just shows me what I have now. It does'nt show me when and and why I amended the stock. The concept of having a BOM for a design and being able to net this off the stock is attractive.

rnielsen · Joined: 23 Sep 2003 Posts: 852 Location: Utah

I would love to keep an updated inventory list of all of the components that I have. The only trouble, for me at least, is that it would take longer to update the database than it would to grab the part. When I want a part I just want to grab it and run. Descipline is key with something like this.

Also, if any of you are like me, I have a few PCB's laying around that I scavenge from now and then. How do you inventory something like that?

Ronald

nurquhar · Joined: 05 Aug 2006 Posts: 149 Location: Redditch, UK

Well for me I don't bother with stocking scrap components as the value is zero. I only use new componets in projects for paying customers. It can cost far more to replace/repair a faulty part on a customers site than the component would ever have cost. If your doing stuff just for your self then fine, recycle. Commercialy it does'nt make sense.