Engineers by their very nature are hands on with projects, and when it’s time to get the job done, they expect all the planning and materials to be on hand. And that includes digital aspects of the project as well as including supply chain management, product procurement and ecommerce.

To help engineers accomplish that, Avnet is rolling out a new self-service online tool set called Design Hub. Avnet is a distributor of electronic components with annual sales approaching $20 billion.

The new interactive portal is designed to be a one-stop shop for engineers. There, they can plan and execute projects and plan for and procure the materials they need. Design Hub makes it easier for engineers to understand and access the information needed to get a project started, says Avnet vice president of Global Technology and Solutions Art Leitherer.

Avnet online tool set Design Hub seeks to help engineers

To help accelerate designs, Avnet says, engineers can use Design Hub to:

• Make modifications and save work.
• Determine if an idea or design can work within constraints.
• Generate the documentation needed to jump start a project.
• Feel comfortable knowing the information is secure through Avnet’s single sign on for customers.

Engineers can access documentation including preliminary schematics and layouts as well as a bill of materials (BOM) for their project design.

“This means the lifecycle status for all parts and overall BOM health will be available up front to ensure available parts are used in the design,” Avnet says. “Users can add parts to a quote or shopping cart or download the complete BOM with a single click.”

Other Design Hub features also include software, calculators, simulators, cross-references, and other design and engineering tools that are typically associated with a key manufacturer’s products, Avnet says.

80% of engineers use datasheets, application notes, reference designs and block diagrams to begin their new designs, Leitherer says.

“Asking the right questions to find the data can be challenging as well,” Leitherer says. “Now they can leverage the Design Hub to take advantage of the community of designers that have assembled current and available content that is applicable to the need.”

Once inside Design Hub, engineers can save and share designs, use calculators to perform tasks such as calculating the primary and secondary full-load currents of a transformer, and browse and search hundreds of reference designs by industry.

“Engineers are leaning into their distributor relationships now more than ever,” Leitherer says. “Design Hub allows us to add value to that distribution relationship.”

Avenet, a Phoenix company in business since 1921, ships to more than 1 million customers worldwide, the company says.

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