Introduction
Manufacturer Equivalent Item (MEI) expresses a manufacturing legal responsibility and can also express a design legal responsibility. It describes the manufacturer definition and specifications of a sourced component from a physical, real-world perspective. It can carry multi-discipline information such as data sheets, 3D representation and simulation models.
MEI could be qualified by different organizations: sourcing, manufacturing and engineering. For the latter, engineers need to qualify MEIs associated to an Engineering Items.
This approach enhances engineering and sourcing collaboration by assessing the MEI content provided by suppliers directly from the Engineering Definition.
The creation and management of the MEIs is done using the role “Supplier Item Manager (XSP)".
View MEIs in Engineering Release app
DataGrid - Global qualification status of all MEIs of a specific Engineering Item
The global qualification status of the MEI(s) related to the Engineering item, is visible in the DataGrid view:
To enable this, you need to add a new column titled “Manufacturer Equivalent Items (MEI)” to the DataGrid view. This column will indicate the global qualification status of the Manufacturer Equivalent Items linked to the respective Engineering Item.
This column is not available by default in this view. You can add it using the command “Attribute Management”:
The table below provides an explanation of each symbol in this column:
| Symbol | Meaning |
| MEI is not validated or does not exist |
| First Qualification: No valid MEI and qualification process is ongoing on ,at least, one another MEI |
| Last Pending Obsolete: Only one MEI pending Obsolete |
| Under Qualification: At least one MEI is valid, and qualification process is ongoing on at least one another MEI |
| Pending Obsolete: At least one MEI is valid, and a second one is pending Obsolete. |
| OK : At least one MEI is valid, and no qualification process is ongoing on another MEI |
Property panel: Qualification status of the MEI itself
Once the attribute is added to the widget, the MEI’s and their qualification status, will be available in the property panel, upon selection of the Engineering Item:
The table below provides an explanation of each symbol near the MEI:
| Symbol | Meaning |
| OK: MEI should be Released, Both Qualifications (Engineering/General) should be Released, with approval = YES and Last time Buy, not set. And validity dates are OK | |
| Pending Obsolete: MEI should be Released, Both Qualification should be Released, with approval = YES and Last time Buy, SET. And validity dates are OK.
|
| In Progress: Any Qualification In Work or Review. | |
| KO: Any Qualification (Engineering Qualification or General Qualification with “approval = NO” - and all Qualifications and MEI are Released |
For more information on MEI, please review this post.
The following video illustrates examples of MEI statuses:
