Part Selection Fundamentals: Creating Resilient Component Requirements

Electronics design teams face increasing pressure to deliver innovative products faster while navigating volatile supply chains. At the heart of successful PCB development lies a crucial but often underappreciated process: component selection. How you select components doesn't just impact design functionality—it determines whether your product can be built on schedule and at cost.

The Critical Importance of Component Selection in PCB Design

According to recent industry studies, up to 80% of designs require replacement parts before production. This fact highlights a painful truth: even the most elegant circuit design can fail if built around components that become unavailable, obsolete, or non-compliant during the development cycle.

Consider the impact of poor component selection:

• Design respins add weeks or months to timelines
• Substituting parts unexpectedly increases costs 
• Procurement delays cause products to miss launch dates 
• Sub-optimal alternative parts compromise product performance 
• Supply chain vulnerabilities affect long-term manufacturing stability

Component changes during development can cost thousands of dollars when accounting for engineering time, documentation updates, and qualification testing. Multiply that across dozens of instances in a typical project lifecycle, and pretty soon, you’re talking about real money.

Moving from Ad-Hoc to Requirements-Driven Component Selection

Specifying supply chain considerations such as component pricing, availability, and supplier lead time as requirements are becoming increasingly important in the PCB design process. While it may not have been a common practice historically, recent disruptions in global supply chains have highlighted the need to integrate these considerations into design requirements.

Yet, many engineering teams still rely on ad-hoc part selection practices. They often choose components based on personal preference, past experience, or quick online searches without systematically documenting why specific parts were selected or what alternatives might exist.

Here are some reasons why requirements-driven component selection is gaining traction:

• Supply Chain Resilience: Specifying sourcing criteria upfront ensures components remain available throughout the product lifecycle.
• Cost Management: Considering pricing and availability early helps control overall PCB costs and avoids expensive redesigns.
• Lead Time Optimization: Setting lead time requirements streamlines assembly schedules and prevents production delays.
• Risk Mitigation: Identifying supply chain risks early allows proactive responses to issues like obsolescence or inventory shortages.

Altium 365 Requirements & Systems Portal (RSP) bridges this gap by enabling teams to connect high-level system requirements directly to component selection decisions. This digital thread ensures that your original design intent remains traceable throughout the product development lifecycle.

Defining Resilient Component Requirements

A requirements-driven component selection process follows the following basic steps:

1. Establish clear selection criteria before the design or component search begins.
2. Document these criteria as formal requirements in a tool that is easily accessible to everyone on the team.
3. Search for and evaluate components based on multiple requirements, not just technical specifications.
4. Link requirements to components on schematics after selection to ensure comprehensive design traceability.

Requirements-driven component selection goes beyond basic technical specifications. It includes considerations that determine long-term product viability and support the whole product lifecycle. Here are some key considerations for more resilient component requirement specification.

Technical Requirements

• Electrical specifications (voltage, current, resistance, etc.)
• Physical dimensions and footprint constraints
• Performance characteristics under various conditions
• Quality and reliability specifications

Supply Chain Requirements

• Multi-sourcing options (minimum number of manufacturers)
• Lifecycle status requirements (no NRND or obsolete parts)
• Inventory availability thresholds
• Lead time limitations
• Cost targets and volume pricing

Compliance Requirements

• Required certifications (UL, CSA, etc.)
• Environmental compliance (RoHS, REACH)
• Industry-specific requirements (automotive, medical, aerospace)

By documenting these requirements upfront, engineering teams create a framework for evaluating components that consider both immediate design needs and long-term product lifecycle viability.

Critical Parameters for Supply Chain Resilience

When establishing component requirements, the following supply chain parameters deserve special attention:

Lifecycle Status

Component lifecycle management begins with selection. Establishing clear requirements for lifecycle status (preferably selecting only active components without end-of-life announcements) helps avoid future obsolescence issues. The Altium 365 platform, with integrated supply chain data, allows teams to see lifecycle status directly within their design environment.

Multi-Sourcing Options

Single-sourced components create vulnerability. Your requirements should specify a minimum number of manufacturers and authorized distributors for critical components. Industry best practices often recommend a minimum of three independent sources for any component used in multiple designs, which can significantly reduce part substitution rates.

Lead Times and Availability

Establishing maximum acceptable lead times in your requirements helps filter out components that could delay production. Current global shortages and supply chain disruptions make this parameter more critical than ever. Setting inventory availability thresholds (e.g., "minimum 10,000 units in distribution") provides additional security.

Compliance Status

Environmental regulations continue to evolve. Your requirements should specify which compliance standards components must meet, and verification should happen during selection—not after the design is complete. Integrated compliance data within Altium Designer helps teams confirm status during part selection.

Cost Targets and Stability

Cost requirements should include not just target unit prices but also considerations for price stability and volume discounts. Historical pricing data can help identify components with volatile pricing patterns that could impact future production costs.

Implementation with Altium Designer and Altium 365

Implementing requirements-driven component selection becomes significantly easier with integrated tools. Here's how to leverage Altium's ecosystem:

Connecting Requirements in RSP to Component Selection

Altium 365’s Requirements & Systems Portal allows teams to create, organize, and trace requirements throughout the design process. By establishing component requirements in this centralized platform, teams create a single source of truth that informs selection decisions.

When component specifications are derived from system requirements, any changes to those requirements automatically highlight potentially affected components—creating valuable early warnings about possible design impacts.

Setting Up Templates with Supply Chain Parameters

Create component parameter templates in Altium Designer that include all critical supply chain parameters—not just electrical specifications. These templates ensure consistent evaluation of all potential parts.

For example, a standard resistor template might include:

• Resistance value and tolerance
• Power rating
• Package size
• Lifecycle status requirement (Active only)
• Minimum inventory requirement (5,000+ units)
• Maximum lead time (8 weeks)
• Compliance requirements (RoHS, REACH)
• Multi-sourcing requirement (minimum 2 manufacturers)

Using Manufacturer Part Search with Integrated Data Sources

Altium Designer's component search capabilities now include integrated supply chain data from multiple sources, including Octopart, IHS Market, SiliconExpert, and Z2Data. This integration allows engineers to evaluate components against their defined requirements without leaving their design environment.

When searching for parts, apply filters that match your component requirements to ensure selected parts will meet both technical and supply chain criteria.

Creating Component Parameter Rules That Enforce Requirements

Component parameter rules can be established in Altium Designer to flag any components that don't meet defined requirements. These automated checks help prevent non-compliant parts from entering your design in the first place.

For critical designs, consider implementing formal design rule checks that verify supply chain parameters alongside traditional electrical and physical design rules.

Best Practices for Resilient Component Requirements

As you implement requirements-driven component selection, consider these proven best practices:

1. Document rationale, not just specifications - Note why specific parameters were chosen to inform future decisions.
2. Create tiered requirements - Distinguish between "must-have" vs. "nice-to-have" parameters to balance ideal selections against practical constraints.
3. Establish standard review cycles - Supply chain conditions change. Schedule regular reviews of component requirements to ensure they remain relevant.
4. Include the procurement team early - Supply chain experts can provide valuable input on requirement feasibility before design begins.
5. Leverage parametric search effectively - Use broad initial searches followed by progressive filtering rather than overly specific initial queries that might miss viable alternatives.
6. Maintain a digital thread - Ensure that changes to system requirements trigger reviews of component requirements throughout the development cycle.

Conclusion

Creating resilient component requirements is the foundation of successful electronic product development. By moving from ad-hoc selection to a requirements-driven approach that considers both technical and supply chain parameters, teams can significantly reduce costly redesigns and delays.

Altium's integrated ecosystem—combining Altium Designer with the Altium 365 Requirements & Systems Portal and powerful data integrations from SiliconExpert, Z2Data, Octopart, and IHS Market—provides the complete digital infrastructure needed to implement and maintain this approach throughout the product development lifecycle. These supply chain intelligence sources empower engineers to make informed decisions during the critical component selection phase.

Read our next blog to explore how to leverage these integrated supply chain data sources to validate component choices against your established requirements.