Systems built at Genesis can contain up to 18,000 components. Often, as much as 55% of those components come from Misumi; components such as shafts, bearings, plates, stands, brackets, ballscrews, fasteners, actuators, and couplings. 

An automotive part presentation fixture holds the base of a part during the automated assembly process. The piece contains 243 parts, 52 of which came from Misumi. Eleven of these parts could have required custom manufacture at a cost of about $1540, but modification through the Misumi database helped Genesis save money.

Usually, Genesis engineers must alter the dimensions of these components in some way to meet specific application requirements. The Misumi catalog and CAD Configurator help them obtain the right component specifications. When a shaft, coupling, ballscrew or just a standoff or hex post is needed, the engineers look through the print or online catalog, configure the part, then import a CAD drawing into a prototype assembly or test station. They can configure various dimensions to suit a particular need. Many of their customers operate in strictly controlled environments that can range from Class 100 clean rooms to harsh environments using corrosive liquids, where a low-temp black chrome plating or RoHS compliance, or merely a simple modification of a component‚’s fastening mechanism might be needed. The engineers find that having options with configurable components makes the job easier and faster.

Through the Misumi engineering data file, the engineers can also maintain a library of parts used on every project. Tracking software lets them access previous job files to reapply existing component designs and legacy knowledge in new applications. On one job, where a particularly corrosive liquid was contacting a linear bearing rail assembly, engineers chose a low temperature, black chrome plating for the component. 

For this fixture for the fiber optic industry,57% of the purchased components are Misumi items. There are 20 unique Misumi items on the assembly; including the cam follower, stop pin, linear bearing, ball bearing, bearing shaft, revolving handle, handle, cast aluminum angle, parallel key and others. Six of the items would have been manufactured by Genesis in the past.

Engineers can price out different design approaches too, using the immediacy of the RFQ option. Ganging products for shipment saves inventory-carrying costs. 

Recently, Genesis was able to successfully ‚“fast-track‚” the design and build of a prototype test fixture to demonstrate the viability of an innovation to an old problem for a fiber optic communications company.  Much of the innovation‚’s content came from Misumi, and was less expensive than components internally manufactured. 

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