Summary:
Product quality and consistency require documentation, especially for manufacturers working with hundreds, if not thousands, of unique parts.
One of the most common ways to keep track of these details is a bill of materials (BOM). A BOM in manufacturing details all necessary components and instructions to manufacture products to spec and to ensure a company’s high standards.
BOMs list raw materials, parts, subassemblies, and other components integral to a product’s manufacture. They also include other vital information about materials, such as the phase of production in which they’re used, vendors that supply them, and how to procure them.
This information is particularly useful to company departments, such as production and purchasing. However, a manufacturing BOM doesn’t provide engineers with all of the information they need. A more valuable form of documentation for design and R&D teams is an as-built bill of materials (aBOM).
In the past, BOM management was largely paper-based, with lists of materials and components recorded on a form or in a spreadsheet. Manufacturers relied on them for effective production planning, inventory control, and even cost estimation.
As you can imagine, this traditional approach to bill of materials management was a job in and of itself. Ensuring BOMs are updated with manual processes and components can take hours of labor. Any time a company introduces new product lines, changes vendors or suppliers, or requires tracking parts’ serial or lot numbers, it would require updates to the BOM.
All of this is to say that manual bill of materials management processes has serious limitations. BOMs are fundamental in manufacturing as they serve as a blueprint for production, but the time it takes to track down hard copies and update systems can seriously inhibit efficiency.
A manufacturing bill of materials is only as accurate as the last update. To stay agile in the face of change, manufacturers need a modern solution.
Many manufacturers may think they can supplement their BOMs with additional solutions. However, even if a manufacturer uses a computer-aided design (CAD) or enterprise resource management (ERP) solution for BOM management, their engineering team may still struggle with a disconnect. This gap can lead to miscommunications between the engineering designs and actual production processes, causing discrepancies.
While these systems allow for centralized access to BOMs, the reality is that not all teams—such as production, procurement, and logistics—can access or interpret this information equally. This disparity can lead to information silos within departments. Similarly, manual BOM management doesn't provide real-time information that would be beneficial for dynamic manufacturers.
Software that generates and stores digital aBOMs ushered in a new era of document management – and lessened the impact outdated or inaccurate BOMs can have on productivity and product quality.
Unlike a standard BOM, which may represent an initial design or plan, the aBOM reflects real-time changes made during the manufacturing process, accurately capturing the end product in its completed state. This creates a single source of truth for all stakeholders in the supply chain, both throughout the organization and with partners and suppliers.
The right software solution can help an operation shift from BOM-centric documentation to aBOMs, providing all team members, including engineers and the entire supply chain, with easy and real-time access to the information they need.
Digitalization of aBOM management also delivers:
A modern, digitized aBOM management process is also key to supporting innovation and future growth.
As manufactured equipment is increasingly used as a part of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) or other connected environments, the aBOM will be a valuable tool in helping engineers connect hardware or other manufactured products to wider networks or intelligent operations. Data from the aBOM can then contribute to digital threads that enable bidirectional communications. This freely flowing data can enable automation, product lifecycle management from design to customer service, and coordination of production with supply chain activities.
The data documented in aBOMs has always had the potential to ensure product quality, minimize production errors, reduce waste, take products to market faster, and optimize service technician effectiveness. This is the competitive edge manufacturers need to remain efficient and competitive in the years to come.
Learn about how First Resonance empowers manufacturers to trace the genealogy of their build in real-time with an As-built Bill of Materials. Schedule a demo today.