Bill of Materials / ERP

A Bill of Materials (BOM) is a list of all of the parts used to build the final product. The electronic parts for the BOM is extracted from the schematic. All mechanical parts (case's, screws) and packaging material are added to this to make up the finished product.

An ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system is used to handle the manufacturing and Supply Chain Management requirements associated with building and shipping products. The ERP system is a single database that contains all information for each component including who supplies each part, price, lead time, alternatives parts and which products they are used in. It also contains all the information related to the finished product like the BOM and manufacturing processes. By setting up the BOM correctly and adding the manufacturing work flow to the ERP system we can also control the manufacturing process and planning requirements. The aim is to get the necessary parts required by each section of the manufacturing process when needed.

A BOM is entered into the ERP system where the list of parts required is compared against physical stock levels for each component. Any parts that are available from stock can be reserved for the product to be built with the remaining parts being flagged as required to be purchased. Orders for each supplier are created to purchase all the remaining parts. These can then be used by the manufacturing site.