SEARCH MEISTER OF THE MONTH
Phil Kutzinger, Bremerton, Washington

Phil is a planner and estimator for AMSEC, a contractor at the Bremerton Ship Yard. His use of TechSavvy.com has enabled him to increase sourcing productivity by a factor of 40.

Many of the U.S. Navy's ships are more than twenty years old, and that makes finding repair items a major challenge. According to Phil, "It used to take a day or more to track down a current source for a part, using a combination of phone calls, faxes and web searches. Now, I simply enter a part number from an old drawing."

The IHS Parts Center (formerly TechSavvy.com) has more than 80 million part records on file, all searchable by part number, keyword or company. This has greatly simplified Phil's work, and he's now able to conduct between 75 and 125 successful searches in an average week. Previously, he'd averaged two or three.

All Phil has when he begins a typical search is a part number and, in some cases, the original manufacturer's name. In the past, he's had to conduct lengthy web searches, scan numerous industrial directories and call other engineers. Many "leads" ended in the discovery that the potential supplier had closed their doors years ago.

Phil said, "TechSavvy enables me to find the contact information, including the web page for potential suppliers. I click on the link to their web site and check and see if they have an on line catalog. If they do, I can often source the part in a few minutes. I also check to see if they have a distributor in my area. If not, I call their 800 number to try to find a local source.. ...And it doesn't even cost anything to search the site."

Summing it up, Phil said, "The end result is that we can provide better value and faster results for our customers. I am often asked by people in the Navy and Coast Guard where to find an obsolete part and I constantly refer them to this data base. To show them how well it works, I ask them to pick out an old drawing from 30 years ago, take a part number and search on it. They are amazed when the database almost invariably serves up all the information on it in a few seconds."

We congratulate Phil Kutzinger for being our SEARCH MEISTER OF THE MONTH.

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