[TR] [6pack] FW: What are these parts? The answer?

[Michael Porter]

On 12/31/2017 10:46 AM, Robert Mcbride via 6pack wrote:
> Pity the poor guy with his engine torn apart waiting on the seals,,, 
> that got the wiper blades..
>
This is a real problem with sequentially generated part numbers. There's 
no real way to double-check results with the item, and if a single digit 
is off, or transposed, chaos results.  GMC used such a 
system--literally, when a designer or engineer created a new part, it 
went into a master part number book and the next number was one more 
than the previous entry.  So, one order for fifteen seal kits for air 
governors turned into a pallet full of 2hp evap blower motors when the 
transit company got one number wrong.  And, because aftermarket parts 
and engineering were separate entities, if the people writing parts 
books were issued a block of numbers for aftermarket parts, and 
engineering didn't note that in the master book, then there were 
hundreds of duplicate parts for one number. Each division had its own 
engineering, its own set of microfiche files of created parts, so the 
opportunity for trouble was always present.

VW tried early on to avoid this problem by incorporating information 
into the part number.  The first three digits describe the series type, 
the chassis type, and which side of the vehicle, left or right it was 
first used on.  The second three digits were one digit for major group 
and two for the subgroup.  The last three were sequentially numbered, 
but there was an attempt to unify part numbers by what sort of part it 
was.  So, the last three digits of the part number for a Type 1 (Beetle) 
flywheel were 271 and the last three for a Type II (Bus) flywheel were 
also 271.   Letter suffixes were used to denote part upgrades, trim and 
color for interior parts, and type of finish for hardware.  In this way, 
one familiar with the numbering system could tell at the instant if the 
part picked didn't match the requested item.  Ford's system is somewhat 
similar.

If you're a small producer or retailer with maybe less than a thousand 
parts total, sequential numbering is probably manageable, but, grow to 
the size of GMC and it's a nightmare waiting to happen.  S-T's system 
was probably unmanageable, or getting close to it, given the number of 
models they were producing (and had to stock parts for).  We saw just a 
smidgen of them here in the States.  Of course, that all got much more 
complicated when British Leyland took over and all future production 
conformed to their numbering system.

Cheers.

-- 


Michael Porter
Roswell, NM


Never let anyone drive you crazy when you know it's within walking distance....