Bill of Materials (BOM): Components, Types

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Manufacturing a product requires many manufacturing materials or raw materials, and keeping each of that in mind with the quantity can be difficult and may not be a productive idea when purchasing the raw materials. And when dealing with multiple products or services, it is common to forget a few things when repairing, manufacturing, or constructing a product or service. The bill of materials (BOM) helps to deal with such situations.

What is the bill of materials?

The bill of materials, or BOM, is a list of components and raw materials and carries a set of instructions regarding repairing, constructing, or manufacturing a product or service. The bill of materials takes a hierarchical path, where the top level displays the finished product, while the bottom level shows the individual parts of the product. There are multiple types of bills of materials used in various industries.

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Understand the bill of materials:

The bill of materials is a sheet with the manufacturing information for a particular product. It contains the materials list required to build the product or service and the instructions guiding the user on assembling the parts mentioned in the list. Manufacturers who construct products start the process by creating the BOM.

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A business needs to create an accurate bill of materials to ensure the product parts' availability when needed and to prove that the assembling process is as efficient as possible. If BOM is not objective, it may result in halting production, increasing operating costs, and taking more time to find the missing parts, start another order, or wait until the correct assembling process is determined.

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The additional types of bills of material differ from product to product. It depends on the type of product the business focuses on and what the business needs. Design, engineering, and manufacturing are a few common industries using BOMs. However, the BOM is essential while designing the ERP (enterprise resource planning) and the MRP (materials requirement panning).

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Components of BOM:

The BOM has 11 core components, which generally include the part number, quantity, part name, measurement units, parts construction, assembly references, and additional notes.

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1. Level:

A bill of materials consists of several levels. Each level has its significance that tells which part fits where.

2. Part names:

This level consists of a part name and helps the manufacturer with the essential information about that part.

3. Part number:

A unique part number helps manufacturers identify parts. Each part number gives some information about the component. For example, take a screw with intelligent or significant part number HSC0424OP, in which H stands for hardware, s stands for screw, CO424 refers to the length, and OP tells about the screw's head style.

In an arbitrary numbering system, the same screw number will have an insignificant and nonintelligent serial number of 000383487349, which does not have meaning other than identifying the screw.

4. Manufacturer Name:

This section carries the manufacturer's name.

5. Part Phase:

Part phase shows the lifecycle of each part mentioned in BOM. A new product will be in the unreleased or InDesign phase, while the other parts are under the revision level.

6. Alternate Parts:

This section checks the possibility of swapping the original products with others.

7. Priority Analysis:

Priority analysis emphasizes the critical parts and ensures the purchase of those. Components with higher monetary values receive high importance.

8. Description:

This section provides detailed information for each mentioned product and helps the user identify the particular component when one or more share a similar shape.

9. Quantity:

Just by the name, the quantity section provides details about the number of components needed to construct the product.

10. Procurement Specifications:

It tells the purchasing status of the particular part, represented by P, M, and C, which stands for purchased, modified, and custom.

11. Notes and Comments:

This section is kept empty to document the unexpected changes and maintain notes as the projects get shaped. It may also include images, diagrams, and other project-related information.

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Types of the bill of materials:

There are three main types of BOM. They are:

1. Manufacturing Bill of Material (MBOM):

A manufacturing BOM consists of a list of items and other project-related information required to design a manufacturable and shippable product. It also includes detailed information about each component.

2. Engineering Bill of Materials (EBOM):

This contains all the information regarding the parts related to the product in the engineering department. The sole purpose of EBOM is to show the product in a functional view, which includes the mechanical and technical drawings.