PartsBox.io (parts manager web based tool)

[vinicius.jlantunes]

Thought of sharing here in case anyone else wants to check it out: https://partsbox.io/

I know people have differing opinions regarding how to manage parts (e.g. spreadsheet, used napkin, why bother, etc.) so this is not about how to do it, rather it's just to share this service I stumbled upon.

Overall, I quite liked it. It is certainly in its early days and it even says it's just a Minimum Viable Product at this point, but I didn't find much missing even at this early stage. It's free for hobby use (with limitations, see https://partsbox.io/pricing.html).

It neatly integrates with Octopart, making it quite easy to access data sheets and other information for parts you own; the search works really well, and it's simple enough that in maybe 2-3 hours I managed to add most of my parts (~40 SKU's, 20 or so to go), and that includes the time I spent physically organizing them.

One thing that got me concerned is that well, who knows if it will not die in coming months - it's founder hopes seem to be to keep it free for hobbyists and sustain the service via the paid versions aimed at larger customers. I think they should have a "hobby plus" paid version as well.
It does allow you to download all your data as a JSON file though, at any time; you would be left with the task of parsing it.

I've submitted feedback on a few quirks I found while using it yesterday, and got a prompt reply from the founder (not quite sure if this is a one man band, probably is). Thumbs up for that! 

[jwr]

Hi everyone, PartsBox founder here. If you have questions, I'll try to answer them.

As Vinicius wrote, PartsBox has been launched very recently, so the functionality is limited. That said, I tried hard to get the basic things right. I use the tool everyday, and so do many other people.

As for project viability: yes, this is a one-man operation, which I think should be considered as a good thing. There are too many startups shutting down all around us due to lack of funding. This project has been specifically designed to be low-cost in maintenance: the architecture is mostly client-side, with very little server support. In fact, if you look closely, you will notice that after you log in, all read operations are client-side only, and the server gets contacted only if you modify something.

So the idea is that while I do expect PartsBox to take off and become big, it doesn't have to, and even if it does not, I'll be able to keep the service running for hobbyists/makers.

As for a "hobby plus" version, I'm still unsure. Yes, I do need to start making money, but I was hoping I'd be able to provide anything the hobbyist needs for free, while charging small commercial shops and labs. The hobby plan limitations are subject to discussion: for example, the part limit will soon be increased to 2,000 or removed altogether. The idea here is to draw a line between features a hobbyist needs and features a company needs, not to limit makers.

As for future functionality, the next big items are: Projects (essentially BOMs, a way to group parts together and remove stock with a single click) and Location-based Parts Search (if you disclose your location, you'll be able to check if others in your area have a particular part, and trade/swap).

[vinicius.jlantunes]

Hey Jan, nice to see you around here!

Glad to read what you put in your post about viability of the project. Definitely being a one man band is not a bad thing, and knowing you've engineered your tool with sustainability in mind and not relying on funding is very good.

As for the "hobby plus" version - yeah, I can definitely appreciate that not having a free version for hobbyists would be a deal breaker for most people. People just got used to everything being free on the Internet.
On the other hand, I like to at least have an option to remunerate the work others do that I like, be in the form of a one time donation or monthly/yearly subscription. I'm not rich, so it's typically not huge values that I am willing to pay, but when I can I always try to recognize others' work financially.
But it's your call of course: I am not an entrepreneur at all, so you definitely have much more insight than I do when it comes to business models that work.

The location-based parts search you mention below is a good idea!

Keep up the good work  - I added some more to my partsbox yesterday and continue to be positively impressed by the tool. It's very stable, easy to use and has already proven its worth as it helped uncover parts I already had on hands that I was about to buy more of.

[alexanderbrevig]

I just spent some time entering my parts (that I use for my ongoing projects) and I must say it's a very good experience!

Good job

FWIW, when you get a project / BOM tab I'd pay for the Lab/Workshop version easy.
May I suggest one more tier, and that is "host your own". My company (among many I guess) would rather want to have this hosted locally, and maybe even hook it up with ERP system and the like.

It would be nice to expose a (simple) API for external services to at least add and remove stock maybe?

TL;DR: You've got another happy user

[alexanderbrevig]

I made a tool that makes simple stickers based on the .json data export.
It's available here https://github.com/AlexanderBrevig/PartsBoxStickers.

I've attached the pdf it generates from my data.

Do you

Hi everyone, PartsBox founder here. If you have questions, I'll try to answer them.

Have you planned this to be part of the PartsBox system (maybe it already is but I could not find it)?

[Sbampato12]

Just registered.

I want to keep tracking this topic.

[jwr]

I made a tool that makes simple stickers based on the .json data export.
[...]
Have you planned this to be part of the PartsBox system (maybe it already is but I could not find it)?

Cool!

I would love to be able to print labels directly from PartsBox, but I couldn't think of a practical solution. Generating PDFs doesn't work for everyone, because there are different formats of paper and labels, and some printers also apply scaling. Besides, I found out that in practice labels only work if the effort to print them is near zero. Only dedicated label printers get close — you get a complete printed sticker, cut to length, in any quantities (which means if you need one you don't need to print an entire A4 sheet!).

For the moment I decided I'd provide CSV export of selected components (this landed in a recent update), because most label printing software can easily "merge" this kind of data. I use it every day with my Brother QL-570 and it's P-Touch software.

I hope to be able to find other solutions in the future, but I'm happy to see others use the data interfaces to hack their own!

[vinicius.jlantunes]

I did a brief review of the service on my Youtube channel, for anyone interested.

https://youtu.be/0UbzkMxvQXw

[free_electron]

This is really cool.
One thing i mis is u der the operations : you now have a remove button. Where is the add button. If i buy extra i want to be able to increment my stock.

Can i upload a comma separated list of stuff i already bave. I have a similar excel thing. It would be great to filter that,, save as csv and push it into partsbox (especially since i got 1000s of parts....)

Label maker support can be done through excel export. Can i have an option to pull a list of newly created parts. Like give me all parts created today, or in the last hour. And save that as csv. That makes it easy to send to the dymo.

[jwr]

Hey, thanks for the nice review! One little thing I wanted to comment on: deleting storage locations. This is surprisingly difficult to do if you care about data integrity and possible bugs. I actually implemented it, but then decided that I'm not 100% certain that I understand all the edge cases (and there are a lot). Since this is mostly an aesthetic issue, I decided to leave it as it is for now. You can archive locations, which means there is a way to get rid of them. They won't bother you in everyday work, it's just that they'll stay in "Archived locations". And you can always "reuse" an old archived location by renaming it!

As for free_electron's comment — when you click on a part there is a menu on the left which has the "Add stock…" option. That's where you add stock to your parts collection.

CSV import is not very likely to happen, except in a very limited form. I can import part names, and stock numbers, no problem. But importing relational data (parts+storage+stock) from a flat spreadsheet file is a recipe for disaster. I don't think this is possible in general case. I wrote PartKeepr import, which was from an SQL database, and that was problematic enough (by the way, the import is not automatic yet, but if you have a PartKeepr database and would like to see it in PartsBox, contact me and I'll run it for you).

As for downloading a CSV with recent parts, that's a good idea and I'll have to think about how to implement it. One thing I'm being very careful about is not to clutter the UI too much. This is why new features take a long time: I want PartsBox to be a useful everyday tool, so the usability must not suffer. As an example, Projects (BOMs) are something I've been working on for more than a month already, and I went through several iterations. I'm not 100% percent happy yet, so it will take somewhat longer — but hopefully the result will be a tool that you will actually use.

[fivefish]

Looks promising.

I'm awaiting BOM functionality and if monthly fees are reasonable, will sign up for a paid plan.

Actually, my needs isn't "I want to keep track of parts inventory in my lab" but "I want to keep track of parts in a project BOM, and list/keep track of multiple sources for a part, and watch the prices from my multiple sources (preferably in real-time/or updated weekly or daily) so  I can make a decision where to buy my parts, instantly see the total cost of my BOM updated, maybe chart the cost of BOM over a period of months/years...." 

One pain I have is creating a BOM on a plain spreadsheet and knowing the cost (but only for that point in time). When I revisit that BOM a few months/years down the road and I see my profit margin has dwindled down because of creeping high prices on a few parts (or sudden price increase on one particular part). I want to know that information, and make decision as to whether find an alternative source, or raise my prices.

Much respect on the clean UI and the whole project... especially knowing this is a one-man operation!   

[jwr]

Looks promising.

I'm awaiting BOM functionality and if monthly fees are reasonable, will sign up for a paid plan.

Actually, my needs isn't "I want to keep track of parts inventory in my lab" but "I want to keep track of parts in a project BOM, and list/keep track of multiple sources for a part, and watch the prices from my multiple sources (preferably in real-time/or updated weekly or daily) so  I can make a decision where to buy my parts, instantly see the total cost of my BOM updated, maybe chart the cost of BOM over a period of months/years...." 

One pain I have is creating a BOM on a plain spreadsheet and knowing the cost (but only for that point in time). When I revisit that BOM a few months/years down the road and I see my profit margin has dwindled down because of creeping high prices on a few parts (or sudden price increase on one particular part). I want to know that information, and make decision as to whether find an alternative source, or raise my prices.

Interesting — this is exactly why I'm asking for feedback. It's a use case that I haven't thought about. This kind of feedback goes directly into my Trello card for Projects/BOMs.

I always planned to include detailed pricing information (from Octopart) in the non-free plans, I guess I could price entire BOMs as well. One problem that creeps up is something nobody managed to solve satisfactorily yet: to get a reasonable pricing estimate you have to tell the tool what quantities you are willing to buy and the tool has to match it with the suppliers' pricing tables. This is non-trivial and quickly gets very complicated when you consider that there are often separate part numbers for parts shipped on tape vs on reel (e.g. Texas Instruments has DRCT and DRCR parts, last letter indicating Tape or Reel).

I have to be careful not to get into unsolvable problems

Much respect on the clean UI and the whole project... especially knowing this is a one-man operation!

Thanks. Technology helps me there quite a bit — I don't think I could have done it without ClojureScript and the other technologies used.

[free_electron]

CSV import is not very likely to happen, except in a very limited form. I can import part names, and stock numbers, no problem. But importing relational data (parts+storage+stock) from a flat spreadsheet file is a recipe for disaster. I don't think this is possible in general case.

why is this problematic ?
if i give you a table like this :

location, part name, part manufacturer, vendor , vendor order code, description, note

That is what i have now.
for example

ICA175,NE555,TEXAS INSTRUMENTS,DIGIKEY,NE555DE4-ND,Timer circuit, NRND replaced by 296-6501-2-ND
ICM219,24c32,ST Micro,,,I2C eeprom, overstock in REELIC107
REELIC107,24c32,ST Micro,,,I2C eeprom,reel of 3000


ICA175 is my location reference.

i use a system of antistatic bags in bins.  ICA=IC analog , ICD=IC digital ,ICC= cpu ,ICM=memory, T = transistor D=diode, REELxx = whole reels
the rest is a sequence number. i gave up on ordering them by part number. i go too many being 'injected'

this excel sheet has more information in it in further columns but those are irelevant for stock management.
the other fields are :
Part ref, Part Library, Footprint Ref, footprint Library, Comment , Designator, and some other fields.

Altium reads the same excel file and builds symbol libraries ( it links in the schematic symbols and footprints. ) so when i pull a bom i have all info : who makes it ,where do i buy it , what is order code ,and where is it in my lab. if it is a new part the leader field will be blank.
Any schematic and board made with this spreadsheet ties everything together. no going fishing afterwards ...

[free_electron]

Streamline the user interface
-------------------------------------

make the area at the top ,between |parts|storage|-------------|O|*|->|
the --------- area : make this the search entry box. No need to go to a specific page to go searching.

The tab 'Part Storage' on the left is redundant as you have this on the info screen already
part info-linked info-add stock-remove stock-stock history-PART STORAGE-


Missing data fields
-----------------------
Supplier
Supplier order code


Tags ( most of these are boolean flags so easy to add )
------
NEW : A bubble telling you this is a recently added part. Any new create part gets this bubble. A dedicated screen can pull the list of 'new parts' ,This can export to CVS for a label printer. In this screen you can 'clear the 'NEW' flag.

OBSOLETE : part is gone. we still have stock but you cant get it anymore.

NRD : Not recommended for design. a warning marker

ALTERNATE : Click the bubble and it throws you on the replacement part ( this bubble appears only if the replacement exists in the database )

OVERSTOCK : click the bubble and it shows you the overstock location ( for example: i have a bag with a few opamps in it , but also 2 other bags  of the same part , different bag number)

REEL : a bubble that appears if a reel is available ( reels use same location code as their bagged loose parts ). when pulling a bom i know i i have a reel or not. ( important for subcontractor assembly by pick and place robot )

[fivefish]

nobody managed to solve satisfactorily yet: to get a reasonable pricing estimate you have to tell the tool what quantities you are willing to buy and the tool has to match it with the suppliers' pricing tables.

Yes, this could get hairy when different distributors also have different ranges for price break. But I think one doesn't need to keep track of all permutations.

What I do in my spreadsheet is I have a qty break column. So I enter 100pcs, or 250pcs. Then in the price field, I enter the price I pay for that qty. I think that keeps things simple.

I don't care about the price for 2500 pcs, since I know I will not be buying that much, I don't need to keep track of that. But if I'm comfortable say buying 100 pcs of a part, then I want to keep track of price at that qty. (example: $4 @ 2500pcs, vs. $5 at 100pcs -- it's a no brainer for me which price break I'll choose.)

I also keep track of the price for (1) pc., and total the BOM cost assuming the end-user buys only the required number of parts for a project (without qty breaks).  That way, I can compare the user's BOM cost (if they decide to buy parts on their own), vs. my own BOM cost. 

Another field I have is "investment" column (for lack of better word). I multiply the qty by the price break. Then I can see, if I invest total $3500 in parts, I can lower total BOM cost to $35. Or if I invest $8,000 in parts, I can lower BOM cost to $30.  It helps in decision making of how realistic I can lower BOM price without tying too much money in inventory. 

I think most small businesses/makers aren't after the absolute lowest BOM price. It's not practical. It's not realistic.  It's a balance between getting some savings while not blowing a whole wad of money on parts that will then just sit on the shelf.

Bigger businesses may keep track of price breaks at 2500, 5000 qty. while other small biz will be more interested in keeping track of prices at the 100pcs or 250pcs or 25pcs price break. Bigger businesses won't be interested in 100pc price breaks and small biz in 2500pc price breaks (for a particular part).

---

I'm assuming you're not after the enterprise market or the really huge factories/manufacturers out there... so don't saddle your program with features/fields/info that only big businesses will care about if they're not your target audience. But think about the thousands of small-time manufacturers/one-man operation (selling on eBay, Tindie, etsy, and the like) that could use such a program.

[jwr]

I'm assuming you're not after the enterprise market or the really huge factories/manufacturers out there... so don't saddle your program with features/fields/info that only big businesses will care about if they're not your target audience. But think about the thousands of small-time manufacturers/one-man operation (selling on eBay, Tindie, etsy, and the like) that could use such a program.

PartsBox is being built to first serve the hobbyist/maker needs, since that is what I know best. I built it because I wanted to use something myself and couldn't find anything good enough. Then, small labs, small companies and workshops come next — this is something I also know about, but feedback from people is essential.

The "enterprise" plan and features will likely arrive last, and will need a driving customer.

Thanks a lot for the detailed description of what you're looking for. I think I understand and I think this isn't very far from what I'm doing for commercial work (small-scale production), except I don't manufacture on a regular basis. You already gave me some good ideas on how to help with managing costs.

[jwr]

Just to follow up on this discussion from a while ago, I managed to work through most hairy issues and Project/BOM pricing is now available. For a description of what it does and how it works, see https://partsbox.io/project-bom-pricing.html

Lots more work to be done, but offers from multiple suppliers with varying price breaks, in multiple currencies, with MOQs and order multiples can now be quickly compared, so that the project can be priced.

As a fun side effect, one discovers new sources of parts — for example, I didn't know that Texas Instruments sells directly and is price competitive above 500 pieces.

[alexanderbrevig]

Great progress! Can I link one BOM from another? So that I can choose to build many of one part of the project/assembly to meet a profitable MOQ/margin but be more just-in-time with some other part.
This would be very helpful for variants too.

[jwr]

> Great progress! Can I link one BOM from another? So that I can choose to build many of one part of the project/assembly to meet a profitable MOQ/margin but be more just-in-time with some other part.

Well, I'm thinking of something along those lines — something similar to a "shopping cart", so that you can add a certain quantity of one project and a different quantity of another, and then find optimal suppliers and quantities for the entire cart (and then generate a shopping list for each distributor/supplier).

[sokoloff]

It does allow you to download all your data as a JSON file though, at any time; you would be left with the task of parsing it.

Hi Jan,
I'd recommend that this feature needs to be listed front-and-center on the pricing page list of features.

I suspect that I'm not the only person who has this as their first question (literally even before I check out the UI and functionality, I want to know if I can get my data out sometime down the road).

Best,
--Jim

[jwr]

It does allow you to download all your data as a JSON file though, at any time; you would be left with the task of parsing it.

Hi Jan,
I'd recommend that this feature needs to be listed front-and-center on the pricing page list of features.

I suspect that I'm not the only person who has this as their first question (literally even before I check out the UI and functionality, I want to know if I can get my data out sometime down the road).

Hmm, I'm trying to make that very clear, but perhaps I should expose this even more?

Both "PERSONAL" and "BUSINESS" pages say:

YOUR DATA IS SAFELY YOURS (NO LOCK-IN)
It's your data. You can export everything you entered, anytime. Data export is a fundamental PartsBox feature that is developed and maintained to the same standards as the rest of the app. We want you to use PartsBox because it provides value, not because you are forced to. You can feel safe that no one will ever hold your data hostage.

I could add this on the pricing page as well, I guess.

I know this is important. These days I don't use any services which take my data hostage — I've been burned too many times in the past. I have no intention of ever holding user data hostage, hence the easily available immediate data export.

Thanks for the suggestion!

--J.

[VoltJesus]

@jwr

I am actually quite interested in your project. One question I have is will this scale outside of electronic components? For instance: I have quite a few HVAC parts from years past of work that I would like to make a list of. Manually adding them all would be fine, but I would like to be able to add some spec info and prices (either current or what I had paid in the past)

Not asking to be able to use all the features of your service, such as linking the data sheet and parts to sellers. Just need some basic info and stats that I can manually input for parts that I add so I can keep track of stuff that might be applicable to a project I'm working on at any time.

Also, how difficult would it be to implement this into an Android app? If possible at all.

[jwr]

I am actually quite interested in your project. One question I have is will this scale outside of electronic components? For instance: I have quite a few HVAC parts from years past of work that I would like to make a list of. Manually adding them all would be fine, but I would like to be able to add some spec info and prices (either current or what I had paid in the past)

Also, how difficult would it be to implement this into an Android app? If possible at all.

You can add anything as a "local part". Local parts are not linked to an online identity, so they can represent anything. I keep track of screws and nuts, for example. You can add prices at which you purchased them, and anything else you wish in the "Notes" field.

As for an Android app, I don't think it makes sense from a business perspective. But the app should be usable on Android devices in a web browser.

--J.

[VoltJesus]

As for an Android app, I don't think it makes sense from a business perspective. But the app should be usable on Android devices in a web browser.

When I was still working, I was actively looking for an app that could fulfill the role I had in mind. And there are many guys in this area that do the same type of work as me that would prob be interested in such an app for their business.
 I never did find anything that would quite do what I wanted. The idea I had was more in line with what you have created. For guys that have work vans full of many small parts, a mobile app that does not require an active internet connection to pull that data would be extremely helpful.
The ability to take a picture of the item and quickly add it into an inventory system with relevant info and price would make things much easier during the busy daytime work hours, where time=money.

It is probably outside the scope of your project, however. Just though I would ask. Maybe it is something you would consider in the future.

[VoltJesus]

One more question. Will you implement the ability to add an image for other parts that are not listed on Octopart, sometime in the future?
Example image: http://dvorsons.com/parts/DVOR-SG22RK.jpg
This would be helpful, as sometimes it is easier to locate a part by visual recognition.