Purchasing Parts

FIRST General Forum
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I would like to know how teams handle the organization of parts/materials ordering as well as how you handle the purchasing of the items.

  1. Do you have one dedicated person for ordering parts? If so, how do they know what to order? Is this a student ? A student and mentor?

  2. How do you handle team finances? Do you have a student treasurer?

  3. How do you handle inventory? i.e. when parts are depleted who notifies the person who orders or adds them to the order list?

  4. How do you handle broken/missing tools? i.e. know that they have been broken/lost so that you can replace them?

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Note: Our team is pretty small, and late in the build season we usually have 10 students and 5 mentors working, so this system might not work for a huge team.

  1. We have one dedicated mentor for parts ordering. This mentor also leads the students in maintenance of the pit and other PR stuff from year to year. If a student/team of students wants a part, they find it online (usually mcmaster), and send the mentor an email with the part number, and how quickly they need the part. For the most part this mentor just orders the part from where we tell him to, but sometimes he’ll search around for the best deal. (Did you know that amazon actually has really good prices on weird bearings, lead screws, and strange gears?)

  2. We split our money into categories, some for saving, some for travel, some for PR…

  3. At the beginning of the season, we buy a bunch of aluminum, plywood, and HDPE. We usually use all of this for the practice bot, and buy more for the competition bot.

Also, we purchase a bunch of common bolts, nuts, washers… that last us through the season. The extras are used on offseason projects.

  1. This is not our strength. When we notice somethings missing/broke, we buy a new one. We should probably inventory our equipment and check it regularly, but we don’t.
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All answers are from Team 2410, BV CAPS Metal Mustang Robotics, and as of the 2013 season. (Responses in bold.)

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Let me preface this post by saying we are a small team (about 15 students right now). We’ll probably get five more later in the year. We have one main mentor.

  1. Our mentor orders our parts. For general items (preseason), a pad of paper is passed around to everyone on the team. If there’s something you need, you put it on the list.

For kickoff orders, the team reaches consensus on what we need. Then we all check our room and see what we already have. What we still need, our mentor orders. During brainstorming, we will have a student on the computer looking up and pricing our ideas. Doing this simultaneously helps save time and remember everything we need.

  1. Team finances are handled by our mentor. For Rebound Rumble, we had a few girls who tried to help, but they got overwhelmed and quit =( If we had students interested in that aspect, they’d handle it. But we don’t.

  2. If we notice we’re out of something, one person will tell our mentor and let the rest of the team know they did so. This is normally avoided by our preseason stock-up (#1).

  3. I’ve been on the team for two seasons, and we have only broken one tool, and I don’t even remember what it is. When it happens, we (obviously) try to fix it. If that doesn’t work, we notify our mentor. He’ll look at it. If we have to, we replace it. We don’t lose tools. After you’re done with a tool, it goes back in it’s designated drawer in the tool chest. With a larger team, I guess it might be more common to lose a tool, but we do not have that problem.

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Edit: I’m on a very large team (80+ students and 30+ mentors on the FRC program, 60+ students in our FTC programs, so we’ve been trying to figure out an efficient way to handle this for some time).

1: Sort of. We have two mentors who order parts requested on our GoogleDocs spreadsheet/form (this allows them to avoid double-ordering). Every parts request is given a unique ID based on the supplier, who ordered it, et cetera.

2: Team finances are handled by a student lead (and sometimes a trainee, though this person is usually a senior) working with one (sometimes two) mentors who are professional accountants. This was a recent development last year, and so far it’s been great in terms of knowing exactly where the money is going!

3: This is something that we’ve been shamefully bad about in the past, but we’re working on improving. For fasteners, most of the subteams keep their own stocks and replenish them when needed-- which yes, isn’t the most efficient way to do it perhaps, but it’s been working. For unique items, we have a couple of cabinets that people check before they order something new. Sometimes they don’t find it even if its there, and we end up ordering an extra, which is a bummer. We’re going to try to find some sort of digital solution longterm, but I really don’t know if that’ll ever pan out.

4: This is mostly handled at the subteam level, but if somebody breaks something easy to replace, often the subteam with just go out and buy a new one, either with team funds or personal funds, getting reimbursed later. We don’t have any kind of team-wide system for this.

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  1. Do you have one dedicated person for ordering parts? If so, how do they know what to order? Is this a student ? A student and mentor?

We have several individuals who purchase parts. Most team parts are purchased with the permission of our lead mentor. However, anyone (student or mentor) has permission to purchase parts without agreement of others if that person deems necessary, but if the part doesn’t get used, the cost comes out of that person’s wallet.

  1. How do you handle team finances? Do you have a student treasurer?

The lead mentors handle finances. We have no student treasurer (yet).

  1. How do you handle inventory? i.e. when parts are depleted who notifies the person who orders or adds them to the order list?

We have no good system for this yet–right now, the lead mentor and myself keep track. Others notify us when they want something purchased.

  1. How do you handle broken/missing tools? i.e. know that they have been broken/lost so that you can replace them?

We buy new ones, or mentors loan their tools. We tell each other when they break.

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We have a very large team.

  1. A mentor orders all parts, with a mentor credit card. Students send the mentor a printout of the “shopping cart” from the recommended supplier, the mentor does look for better suppliers. The invoices are submitted about monthly for reibursement.
  2. A mentor is treasurer. The school holds the funds for us.
  3. We don’t have a good inventory, but when someone notices we need more of (something) they submit the order to the mentor.
  4. Every year we check the toolboxes and buy whatever’s missing. During the build season, we might buy a ‘missing’ tool, but we do impress upon the students that if they ‘lose’ a tool, it’ll stay gone for a while…the lesson being “don’t lose the tools”.
    We generally don’t break tools, with the exception of screwdrivers - we buy several sets from Harbor Freight each year and (literally) throw last year’s out, because they are worn. No, we don’t keep ‘kinda good’ ones, they all get tossed (except the oddball stuff, like the #4 philips).
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I have a team of 20 students who travel and another 10-20 who join and don’t typically make it through build season or just go to one local competition.

  1. Do you have one dedicated person for ordering parts? If so, how do they know what to order? Is this a student ? A student and mentor?

I do 98% of the ordering as the mentor. The majority is done through McMaster-Carr. Specialty items through AndyMark, Vex, and the other FIRST suppliers.

In the fall I/we make one major fastener, electrical, and generic supply order. We sit down, inventory what’s left over, throw out junk, and make a list with the students. This typically takes one Saturday.

During build, we have a list on the table of the new items I need to order. Since we aren’t really able to truly CAD this stuff, we kindof order every single day. I had 40 separate McMaster-Carr invoices last year. If I order by 10 am, I have the stuff that night for build.

  1. How do you handle team finances? Do you have a student treasurer?

We have three separate accounts - the school budget line which I am solely responsible for, the student activities account which I oversee but have a student treasurer, and the grant money which goes into the 501 ©(3) sponsor’s account and is handled by myself and another mentor who is the treasurer of that organization.

The students are 100% responsible for their student activities account, which is where their fundraising goes. This account covers trip expenses, excluding bus. When it is time to travel, we know the cost of the trip and they determine how much needs to come out of their pocket that they haven’t raised.

  1. How do you handle inventory? i.e. when parts are depleted who notifies the person who orders or adds them to the order list?

We don’t keep an “inventory”. As the individual who orders, when we finalize the items on the robot, anything that might break goes on a separate spare parts list. I make one order to McMaster-Carr for those items the week after bag day so we have spare parts. When we order motors or wheels we just order extra to start with. I would love to have a student do this, but it typically ends up being the other adult mentor and myself. When stuff is replaced from our spare parts during competition 1, we order more for competition 2, etc. At the end of the season, anything we really don’t need I send back to McMaster for a credit (ie, the expensive robot specific pneumatic that we had a spare of that didn’t break, etc.).

  1. How do you handle broken/missing tools? i.e. know that they have been broken/lost so that you can replace them?

We break drill bits and endmills. It goes on the daily list and I order it the next day. The students know they aren’t in trouble if it breaks, just tell me so I can get another one. We try to figure out why it broke in the first place so it doesn’t happen again. Tools (other than screwdrivers and allen keys) rarely break.

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Students and I both make a list on the whiteboard. I order everything. I typically will make about 80 separate purchases over a season.

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Team Size: 12-20 Students & 3-6 Mentors

  1. Do you have one dedicated person for ordering parts? If so, how do they know what to order? Is this a student ? A student and mentor?

We only have two primary people who can order materials: the 501©(3) President and Treasurer. Others can purchase “stuff” on their own, but if it’s too far outside the norm or was not approved in advance, they risk not getting reimbursed. Typically, we have good communication on this.

  1. How do you handle team finances? Do you have a student treasurer?

We do not have a student Treasurer. All finances are handled through our 501©(3).

  1. How do you handle inventory? i.e. when parts are depleted who notifies the person who orders or adds them to the order list?

Typically, as we run low or out of parts, someone says something. Of course, that’s partly because they’re tired of hearing the Mentors say things like, “You’ve been waiting for xxx part? Why didn’t anyone say anything to us?”

  1. How do you handle broken/missing tools? i.e. know that they have been broken/lost so that you can replace them?

If it’s broken, we’ll typically replace it as we can afford it. If it’s lost, it may take a long while unless it’s a critical item. Of course, we have a ton of spares of the things we use often … Actually, it’s almost a real ton. :ahh:

11

Our team has had a dark ages of robotics, so now in our enlightenment we have dissected our old junk bots for motors and controllers for our new bots.

  1. Our school sponsor/teacher is responsible for ordering our parts. We typically place 3-4 orders from AndyMark, (now) VexPro, and McMaster-Carr each season.

  2. Our robotics booster club (like a PTA) has a treasurer who handles all things financial. We turn in receipts (when we go to Ace Hardware etc) to them, and get checks in return because it is far easier to spend our own money now and get repaid a week later with our system.

  3. Every single bolt on our robot is either a #10-32 (general purpose) or a 1/4"-20 (heavy duty) with various lengths between 1/4"-3" and both are hex headed. We use appropriate sized washers for each and use either KEPS or Nylock nuts. Because of this we simply have a couple giant bins for hardware. When a bin gets low, we buy a couple boxes to replenish them.

  4. Usually when someone breaks a tool, we look in our spare tools cabinet (like for band saw blades) for extras. If there is none that person is automatically delegated to immediately go out and buy another one. They then turn in their receipt to the treasurer (see #2) and get their money back the next week. We don’t do a whole lot of inventorying though we should. During build season, each team has a corner of the room and tools are spread out everywhere.

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Yes. Me. During build season, I have students fill out an order slip with quantity and source. I try to consolidate any online orders that are needed, but if it’s a hardware store item, I may just get it on my way to the school.
Some other mentors end up purchasing parts for the sub-team they work with and get reimbursed, but are asked to inform me of their purchases for tracking.

  1. How do you handle team finances? Do you have a student treasurer?

Our parent organization is a 501c3 and handles all money for the team. The treasurer is one of the parents. Every year, he/she creates a budget that is approved by the parent organization. Costs are broken down for registration, travel, robot, outreach, etc. I have a check card I’m authorized to use as the main purchaser for robot related items. We do not currently have a student involved in treasurer duties, but may try that this year.

  1. How do you handle inventory? i.e. when parts are depleted who notifies the person who orders or adds them to the order list?

We don’t really have a good system for handling inventory of common hardware like nuts and bolts. It’s more of a “we’re running low on XXXX, could you get some more” I do track the items so we can start to get a good idea of how much hardware and other items we buy each year.

  1. How do you handle broken/missing tools? i.e. know that they have been broken/lost so that you can replace them?

Generally same process as needing new parts, unless it’s a higher dollar item.

13

I end up doing a lot of the parts ordering/fetching. Students request parts, we usually use funds from our non-profit to buy robot parts because the school purchase system takes about 6 weeks, which makes it quite useless. I also end up buying a lot of miscellaneous parts with my own pocket money, because it’s just so much easier than doing paperwork. I generally only spend a few hundred bucks of my own money for robot parts during build season.

  1. How do you handle team finances? Do you have a student treasurer?

There is a student treasurer who “handles” team finances…sort of…but really a lot of it is done by a teacher (club advisor)

  1. How do you handle inventory? i.e. when parts are depleted who notifies the person who orders or adds them to the order list?

Inventory? what a concept!

  1. How do you handle broken/missing tools? i.e. know that they have been broken/lost so that you can replace them?

Occasionally we replace missing/broken tools…generally, we suffer without them.

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I do all of the purchasing except for some miscellaneous smaller things that mentors decide to buy and donate.

In the first few years, I put everything on my own credit card and got reimbursed through our 501c3 organization. I didn’t like that, although it did give me the ability to buy stuff on zero notice without having to go through a purchasing process. Now the district rules are stricter, so I do requisitions and buy things through purchase orders when possible and use a school credit card otherwise. I buy little stuff here and there on my own card without getting reimbursed.

I’d love to have another mentor handle purchasing, but I’m the only teacher on the team, and a school employee has to do the purchasing.

We have no formal process for keeping inventory, although I have a decent idea what we have. When students want something, I usually have them send me the detailed information via email rather than telling me “I want XYZ” in passing and expecting magic to happen.

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