What is Cofactr, who is it for, and why does it matter?

What does Cofactr do?

In short, hardware teams and electronics manufacturers use Cofactr to support their process of taking an electronic bill of materials from spreadsheet through to kits of parts arriving at the assembly line. 

To dive in deeper, Cofactr is both supply chain software that electronic hardware teams use to quote, purchase, and manage inventory of electronic parts and physical facilities that carry out the warehousing and logistics processes that support electronic components. Our unique model is a comprehensive solution that includes sourcing, quoting, procurement, receipt of parts, electronics inventory management, kitting, and shipping to manufacturing, all in one place. 

We fill many roles that a quoting tool, buying office, inventory warehousing solution, third-party logistic service, and kitting provider would offer as a single solution focused on electronic components. 

Our customers trust us to manage their electronic parts in our ESD-safe humidity and temperature-controlled storage, automatically provide optimized procurement strategies, purchase from hundreds of distributors with a single click, assure parts quality with X-Ray and optical inspection, and kit and ship parts to assembly partners. 

Who does Cofactr support?

All of Cofactr’s customers are making electronic products. Our customers include aerospace, medical technology, agricultural technology, robotics, automotive, retail technology, and many other fields. We provide a comprehensive service for many early-stage companies. For larger enterprises, we often support in more targeted ways, filling gaps in their supply, automating electronics market tracking, or de-risking the purchase of parts from lesser-known suppliers.

Why does Cofactr matter?

Cofactr matters because hardware teams shouldn't have to worry about individual electronic parts, but visibility and security of critical components is necessary for successful business operations. Talented engineers, procurement specialists, hardware leads, and other amazing minds should be free to make the world more inspiring and innovative without fighting with the laborious status quo of electronic supply chains and electronic-specific inventory management. Cofactr eliminates stress around electronics so those teams can focus on the big stuff, the cool stuff, and the things that make our world better.

Why does Cofactr exist?

Cofactr was founded by a team who previously ran an R&D, prototyping, engineering, and production company that created original hardware and software and worked with external hardware teams as an engineering firm across fields like live events, autonomous vehicles, and consumer electronics. Having worked in software and hardware during these years,  the co-founders, Matthew and Phil, wanted to focus on supporting electronics manufacturing, helping facilitate an experience for hardware teams that felt more akin to the rich ecosystem of tools and services that support software teams.  

Cofactr was initially born as a tech-forward contract manufacturer in electronics, focused on more efficient printed circuit board assembly. As we grew and our customer list expanded, it became clear that our most valuable services were comprehensive supply chain and inventory management. With that realization (thanks to customer feedback), we closed the doors on the manufacturing line. We focused on building a third-party logistics and procurement solution that handled everything not core to an engineering team but before the electronic product assembly began.

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Want to learn even more? Check out this article in TechCrunch!