10 — Parts and technical master data

A buyer needs to know what may be purchased; a designer needs to know what will satisfy the installation; a storekeeper needs to distinguish stock; a maintainer needs to know what may replace a failed item. These questions overlap, but one part number cannot answer them without controlled definitions and relationships. Technical master data makes those relationships usable throughout the business.

Create an identity for a reason

Part identity identifies a kind of item. Revision identifies a controlled version of its definition. An occurrence is its use in a structure, and a physical instance is an actual manufactured item. Two cooling-module brackets may share one part identity while occupying different positions and carrying different installation requirements. Conversely, similar-looking left and right brackets may need different identities because their definitions and permitted uses differ.

Before creating a new identity, the designer searches for a suitable existing item. The search uses classification and technical properties, not merely a remembered description. The part steward checks duplicates and naming quality; the design authority decides whether an existing definition meets the need. Reuse requires evidence of suitability in the new context. A bracket proven for one load envelope has not thereby been justified for the revised payload requirement.

Classification groups items by meaningful characteristics and supports retrieval. Connector classes might include relevant construction, interface and environmental attributes; material classes might distinguish specifications and conditions. Classification values need units, allowed meanings and provenance. An empty property is different from a known zero or an inapplicable characteristic. A shape match or catalogue description can identify a candidate, but cannot approve it.

Siemens describes classification support and notes that its ECLASS data-management capability is separately licensed. Siemens classification overview supports that capability boundary. Selecting a taxonomy, migrating existing data and deciding which properties govern acceptance remain business work. A taxonomy imported into Teamcenter does not make supplier data correct.

The engineering part identifies the controlled technical definition used by the programme. A manufacturer part number identifies a manufacturer's product within that manufacturer's identity space. A SAP material identifies an enterprise material record used for relevant planning and logistics processes. These identities may be deliberately aligned, but their equality must never be inferred from matching text.

SAP documents manufacturer-part-number handling and its relationship to the firm's inventory-managed material, with configuration prerequisites. SAP manufacturer part number documentation supports the existence of that capability, not a universal mapping for this programme. The selected SAP edition, material types and purchasing controls must be verified before implementation.

This operating model assigns engineering identity and definition authority to engineering governance, manufacturer identity stewardship to a controlled supplier-data process, and logistics attributes to the ERP master-data owner. Teamcenter and SAP exchange approved relationships. A logical mapping record identifies both systems' keys, relevant revisions or qualifications, scope, effective status and owner. This is an information requirement, not an invented integration object.

One engineering specification may permit several qualified manufacturer products. Conversely, one purchased product may appear in several engineering contexts whose acceptance requirements differ. Separate stock identities may be necessary where pooling would allow an unsuitable item to be issued. The mapping decision therefore considers technical distinction, inventory segregation, traceability, procurement and service use. It should not be driven solely by the convenience of an interface that expects one identifier on each side.

Material specifications and sources

A material name alone is rarely a complete requirement. The definition may need a specification and edition, grade, condition, product form, treatment, finish and required evidence. Manufacturing engineering assesses whether subsequent processes change the relevant properties. Quality identifies what certificates, inspections or tests establish acceptance. No universal certificate requirement is assumed; the applicable product, contract and assurance needs determine it.

For an in-house cooling bracket, the finished engineering part and its raw stock have different roles. The bracket definition states the required finished characteristics. Manufacturing planning determines the material input and operations that achieve them, within the approved technical constraints. Cutting stock to a shape does not by itself establish treatment, finish or dimensional acceptance.

Source approval also has several meanings. A commercially approved supplier may not be technically qualified to manufacture a particular item or perform a special process. A qualified manufacturer product may be purchased through different distributors whose pedigree and handling controls need assessment. The supplier-quality authority evaluates capability and evidence; engineering accepts technical suitability; procurement authorises the commercial source. Their decisions are related but not interchangeable.

A qualified-source relationship should identify its scope, limitations, evidence, applicable product definition and review triggers. Changing a manufacturing site, process or specification can invalidate an assumption behind qualification even if the catalogue number stays the same. The supplier agreement must establish which changes require notification. Receipt checks then compare delivered identity and evidence with the purchase requirement rather than merely matching a familiar description.

Substitution and interchangeability

Substitution permits another item in a defined use. Interchangeability is a stronger compatibility judgement whose scope must be stated: replacement direction, installation conditions, mating equipment, performance and maintenance consequences. Similar dimensions do not establish equivalent electrical behaviour or environmental capability. Permission to replace an older item with a newer one does not necessarily permit the reverse.

The design authority owns technical substitution approval with affected interface owners. Manufacturing assesses installation and process changes, quality assesses acceptance evidence, support assesses spares and instructions, and procurement assesses commitments. An urgent shortage may justify a restricted substitution for named vehicles with additional checks. That exception remains traceable and must not silently become a general approved source.

A revision is suitable where the programme's identity rules allow the changed definition to remain under the same kind-of-item identity. A new identity is required where treating old and new supply as the same item would obscure a necessary technical or logistical distinction. The exact rule must consider interchangeability and stock control; neither “always revise” nor “always renumber” is adequate. Historical records retain the identity and revision actually used.

Replacement permission has a direction

Suppose a revised fan requires an adaptor to connect to the earlier harness. Engineering may establish that the complete replacement set is acceptable at a specified position. That does not permit the earlier fan to replace the revised fan in a vehicle with the new harness, or permit the revised fan alone without the adaptor. Approval names the replacement direction, complete material set, installation conditions and applicable configurations.

Stores issuing only the new fan could leave the mechanic without required material. A service list treating both identities as unrestricted alternatives could permit an invalid reverse replacement. Manufacturing planning includes the additional material and operation; support defines the replacement task and evidence; actual records capture the resulting installation. The adaptor introduces interfaces and routing constraints requiring assessment rather than an assumption that adaptation restores every original characteristic.

If products must remain distinguishable to enforce these conditions, that distinction must survive purchase, receipt, issue and service. A new engineering identity can preserve it through controlled manufacturer and logistics mappings. Whatever mechanism is selected, the person at the point of use must be able to select an authorised set without reconstructing its change history.

Work through the connector change

The cooling-module supplier announces a replacement electrical connector. Engineering first determines whether this changes the supplied module definition, only the qualified source, or both. The interface owner checks its mating half, terminals, seals, cavity assignments, installation envelope and service tools. Harness engineering identifies affected harness definitions and manufacturing tests. A new supplier catalogue number is evidence of a changed commercial identity, not evidence of equivalence.

Vehicle 01 is in build. Its installed or staged equipment must be identified before deciding whether to retain, rework or replace it. Vehicle 02 has major components ordered, so procurement assesses supplier work in progress and contract consequences. Vehicles 03–04 can adopt the new arrangement through their released configurations. Each decision connects engineering approval, purchase instructions, stock disposition and installation evidence.

If old and new connectors cannot mate, stores must prevent uncontrolled mixing. Depending on the chosen master-data design, that may require separate materials or another enforced segregation mechanism. The required outcome is exact issue and traceability; the software mechanism must be demonstrated in the selected environment. A free-text warning alone provides weak control where routine transactions can ignore it.

Obsolescence begins before stock runs out. The responsible engineer monitors supplier notifications, assesses remaining demand and support duration, and evaluates redesign, alternative qualification, repair or a justified final purchase. A final purchase carries storage, ageing, quality and forecast risks. Procurement cannot resolve those engineering questions simply by buying more. Support must preserve compatibility information for delivered vehicles even after production adopts the replacement.

Scale and operational discipline

At millions of occurrences, duplicate identities create repeated qualification effort and fragmented demand. Excessive consolidation creates a different problem: technically distinct items disappear into one stock population. The part steward balances reuse against necessary distinction using explicit rules and exceptions. Thousands of users need clear creation and correction routes, including a way to challenge a suspected duplicate without deleting history.

Multi-year manufacture requires versioned qualification evidence and durable cross-system mappings. Failed transfers must enter a visible reconciliation queue; an item should not be treated as purchasable merely because its engineering record exists. Equally, a SAP material created for planning does not automatically authorise technical use. Release for a defined purpose determines which commitments may follow.

Technical master data supplies the identities used by configuration selection. It does not itself decide which bracket or connector belongs on Vehicle 03. That decision needs configuration rules, applicability and a controlled baseline, followed by records of what was actually installed.