Comment by willcarkner
7 hours ago
This is our first step to work more closely with the designer throughout the process.
Currently there's a wall between the designer and the manufacturer, which hurts lead times massively, we're aiming to bring that down.
I'd love a kicad plugin where not just lead times but current stock etc are showed live, and for anything marginal a button I can smash to order it in advance.
Even if 50% of the time I didn't end up using that component, that would still be an amazing service.
We pre-order parts to JLC during the design process. I know people using JLC aren't your target but my advise would be to not ignore how gloriously friction-less it is now buying parts into private inventory - and with no ongoing fees as well. They have really nailed it.
That's exactly what we are trying to do.
Some financial engineering could help here too. That abandoned inventory is useful to somebody, but warehousing can be non trivial… how do you get liquid and reroute the parts?
There’s some flavor of consignment waiting to happen here.