What is a BOM? – Definition and Significance
What is meant by BOM?
A Bill of Materials (BOM) is an important document in the manufacturing industry. It is a comprehensive list of all the components needed to produce a product. The BOM typically includes the name of the part, the part number, and the quantity required. It may also include additional information, such as suppliers or costs. This list is important to many people in a plant. It is usually created by the design department and later made available to other departments, such as work preparation, production, purchasing, or costing.
Bill of Material types
- The Quantity Bill of Materials is the simplest form of the BOMs, where product components are listed without differentiation.
- The structured BOM is complex because it lists the components of the product by manufacturing stage. It includes all the parts and assemblies of the product.
- The assembly BOM is only one level of the product structure. Assemblies have their own BOMs.
- The Variant Bill of Materials combines multiple individual BOMs into a single document. This allows objects with similar or identical components to be listed together.
- The complex BOM, or maximum BOM, represents all the variants of a product or an entire assembly.
- The multiple BOM records the composition of the material based on lot sizes.
Why do you need the Bill of Materials?
An accurate Bill of Materials provides many benefits and enables an efficient production line. Companies use it as a guide and purchasing list for their finished products. The Bill of Materials helps determine and plan raw material requirements to avoid possible overstocking. It also provides an overview of the procurement of the required components and helps to avoid or detect errors.
