An old Indian parable tells a story that can easily apply to the topic of classification. Some men stand in complete darkness opposite an unknown object and try to find out what it is. In doing so, each man only examines a certain part of the whole and draws his own conclusions. Trunk, brush or sail? No one comes up with the correct solution that in reality it is an elephant. The reason is clear: A person examines an object based on their personal experiences and their individual focus, which then leads to their own interpretation of reality.
A typical problem involving the topic of classification is as follows: It can frequently happen that three engineers come up with four descriptions of one component. Developing a consistent classification system that brings the desired benefits is hardly possible under these circumstances.
Costly and time-consuming manual classification
Engineers and purchasers make their own subjective evaluations when attempting to classify a part correctly and so the rate of agreement among three different employees, according to experts, is about 30%. Manual classification is therefore very time-consuming and expensive. Moreover, errors can easily creep in with this approach.
Classification by means of a reference model brings light into the darkness
The described weaknesses of manual classification can easily be eradicated with Classification 2.0 and the Strategic Parts Management PARTsolutions by CADENAS. Instead of going to the trouble of classifying each component individually, Classification 2.0 defines a parametric reference model with its geometric properties for each class. If an L-profile with certain dimensions is needed, the system searches for parts that are geometrically similar to the parametric reference model.
With a parametric reference model, Classification 2.0 goes around the subjective approach of employees, literally bringing light into the darkness of classification. For those men in the Indian parable, it would thus be an easy matter to recognize a foot, a tail or an ear of an elephant.
You can find further information about Classification 2.0 and the Strategic Parts Management PARTsolutions here.