GlossaryKind of term: Manufacturing termBought-in part
What is a bought-in part?
A bought-in part is bought ready-made and enters the assembly at its purchase price; a made part goes through your own shop and you estimate it yourself.
A bought-in part is an item in an assembly that you buy ready-made rather than make. Its counterpart is the made part, which goes through your own shop and has its own drawing, model and route. Bought-in parts are often standard or catalogue items such as bearings, socket head cap screws, springs or a pneumatic cylinder, identified by a standard or an article number. A part that a supplier makes to your drawing is also bought in, but then with its own drawing and revision.
How does a bought-in part work in practice?
A made part gets a cost from material, operations, setup, programming and finishing; a bought-in part gets the supplier's price, often with a mark-up for purchasing, receiving and stock. Things go wrong when the two get mixed: a bearing modelled in the CAD assembly that ends up estimated as a made part, or a made part listed without a route at a guessed price. The lead time of a bought-in part lies outside your own planning and can set the delivery date of the whole assembly. Whether an item is made or bought is a choice that depends on capacity, price, lead time and risk.
What is a bought-in part often confused with?
A bought-in part is not a subcontract operation: with a bought-in part you buy the whole item, with a subcontract operation it stays your made part and someone else carries out one step, such as hardening or anodising. Customer-supplied material is different again: the customer provides it, with no purchase price in your estimate.
How do you see a bought-in part in Blake?
A made part gets its own estimate in Blake, with separate lines; a bought-in part sits in the assembly as a line at its purchase price, and both count towards the same total. Without a price that line stays visibly open rather than showing zero. A step you send out on a made part comes in as its own line from your library of subcontract operations. More on estimating.
Frequently asked questions
When does a made part become a bought-in part?
When you decide not to make it yourself, for example because a supplier delivers it cheaper, faster or with less risk, or because you lack the capacity or the machine. Record the reason with the estimate.
How do I put a bought-in part into the price?
As its own line with your supplier's price, the quantity per assembly and any mark-up for purchasing and handling. Carry its lead time into your delivery date; a bought-in part has no machining time in your own shop, apart from any incoming inspection.
Are screws and nuts bought-in parts too?
Yes. Standard parts such as screws, nuts and washers are bought in. They often come from your own stock and are sometimes covered as consumables in the fitting item; pick one way, so they are not counted twice or not at all.