| ManEx Minute - 25 - BoM Importing |
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"Computers have enabled people to make more mistakes faster than almost any invention in history, with the possible exception of tequila and hand guns"
-Mitch Ratcliffe
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June 10, 2009
Issue 25
Dear David,
I have wonderful news!! Initial testing went so well, that we are ready to open Component Exchange© beta to everyone. Join for free at www.manex.com/ce.
I have been pleasantly surprised by the growth. Even with the limited release, we are adding an average of 350 new part listings every week. That means that even if the components you want are not listed now, they could be tomorrow.
Make sure to tell everyone about the service. You will directly benefit along with all other users as more companies list and buy parts through this free service. Best of all, because it is free, you have absolutely nothing to loose.
This issue of ManEx Minute focuses on importing BoMs. Nearly 84% of you kit parts by the consuming work center. You also track an average of nearly 9 work centers in production. This is an easy and effective way to manage inventory and reduce attrition. Hopefully today's case will give you some ideas or confirm the effectiveness of your current methods.
As always, we look forward to your participation and feedback as you gain new insights and become a more effective provider of Electronic Manufacturing Services.
Sincerely,
David Sharp
ManEx, Inc.
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 Business Case - Inventory Control |
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BoM Importing
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North Eastern Company (NE Company)* just won a contract from a new customer. As expected, the customer wants the first deliveries as soon as possible. However, before they can start work, they need to get the assemblies into the system so they know what to buy and can start planning for production.
To keep costs down and better manage the components in their system, NE Company does not upload a BoM until they win the business. While it keeps their parts listing as small as possible, it can create difficulties when they need to quickly start producing a product after quoting.
For the new order, NE Company will need to create 27 BoMs (including sub-assemblies). Fortunately, only 9 are required for the initial delivery.
Even with this reduced initial requirement, management is concerned. Their current importing process takes an average of 42 hours per assembly. They don't have time to run it through the standard process, but don't want to risk purchasing and producing the first orders incorrectly.
How can they accurately and quickly load the current assemblies into the system? How will they prevent duplicate parts? Can they quickly check to see if existing inventory is available to fulfill the order? What are their options to reduce the turn time on loading BoMs into the system?
*Name has been changed
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Business Case Solutions
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All good ERP systems give users the ability to create components and assemblies...
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ManEx Case Solution
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It is easy to dump information into a table, but in order to keep the information clean and accurate, users should validate and scrub data before importing...
Read the full ManEx Case Solution >>
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BoM Importing
"In most cases we use BoM Import but if we have similar BoM's we will copy, if it's a small BoM (less than 10-15 parts) or if the BoM doesn't have customer P/N's we will manually load them.
"The time it takes to load BoM's has significantly improved through [BoM Import]
"...[However] there is still the issue [where I can't] load the part but not the new AVL"
-Nick, TX
"When customers provide bom's in a format that's import friendly, the import module is a big benefit."
-Michael, IL
"We are an engineering organization so BOMs evolve over days and weeks.
"The BOMs often change during development and manual entry is required to modify a BOM. Initial entry could be done from spreadsheet to save time.
"Some large BOMs take a very long time and mistakes can occur."
"I abandoned using [BOM Import] because of the complexity...Why do you have to enter items based on the manufacturer's part numbers? These numbers have so many variations it is very difficult to get things to match up exactly."
-Justine, NH
We load 6-8 BoMs each week [of those] 3-5 are new ones.
"We Drag-n-Drop from the item master. [For us] it is enormously faster than the BOM import tool."
-Tom, OR
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Please share your ideas and insights on a topic below. Use the questions to direct your response. You can submit your thoughts to mym@manex.com by clicking the topic title. Where appropriate and space permitting, we will post responses in a future newsletter so all may benefit.
Multi-level BoMs
How many levels do you track on a BoM?
Do you create sub-assemblies for each WC?
When and why do you create subassemblies?
What benefits have you seen from using sub assemblies?
To suggest a new topic please send an email to mym@manex.com.
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ManEx Minute is a bi-weekly email distributed by ManEx, Inc. |
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