Indented Bill of Material: The Top-down breakdown of the structure of a product. In an indented BOM listing, every subassembly and component is indented one level from the assembly or subassembly into which it goes.

Parent and Child Relationships in BOM’s: Each product “parent” has an indented list of “child” components and subassemblies that go into it. Each child item is indented under its parent and may in turn have child components indented under it.

Accepted Manufacturer List (AML): The AML is the list of manufacturer part numbers entered in the Inventory Control Mgt.- Quantity Info screen. A manufacturer must first be set up in the Inventory Control Mgt./ Part Manufacturer Setup before its approved part number can be added.

Accepted Vendor List (AVL): AVL’s show which manufacturers are approved or qualified for use for a particular customer’s product line or individual product. Only manufacturer part numbers that have been entered in the AML for a particular item can be selected or deleted from the AVL for a customer. A customer’s Approved Vendor List of manufacturers for each internal part is maintained in that customer’s Consigned Inventory record for that part.

Anti-AVL: Normally the AVL for each customer applies to all of their product BOM’s. However, if a customer wishes to disqualify a manufacturer from use in one particular BOM, removing a check-mark from the Anti-AVL field may be used to keep the otherwise approved manufacturer from being used on specific BOM’s.

Generic and Manufacturer Preferences: A Generic (Genr) manufacturer means that any manufacturer’s part can be used.Generic is generated by the system as the default manufacturer if no other is specified. If specific manufacturers are listed for a part, preferences for use in an Internal or in a Customer’s product may be entered. Preferences are entered in the Inventory Control Mgt.- Quantity Info screen as 1 for 1^st, 2 for 2^nd, etc. next to the manufacturer.

Functions  

Bills of Material serves many functions in the manufacturing environment. They are central to all manufacturing operations and are used for everything from product specification to quotation document. BOM’s are key to material requirements planning, kit organization, product structure, and configuration control.

Material Requirements Planning (MRP): The BOM is the master plan for building product. An indented BOM from the product top level down to the lowest level component provides the entire material picture for a product. Its quantity and manufacturer preferences are used to kit materials for production to assemble. Its linkage to Item Master Purchase and Production Lead Times and Work Center offsets are used by the MRP to determine which parts to purchase or make and when to provide them. By listing multiple manufacturers and alternate part numbers, the BOM can be used to manage work order shortages.

Kitting by Work Center: Selection of a Work Center for each BOM Line Item causes that item to be kitted with other parts for that Work Center. Grouping of the parts needed for the first Work Center helps determine when to start a work order and eliminates the need for sorting out needed parts at each Work Center. Also if parts are not kitted until needed for later work centers, they need not be purchased or made until closer to the time they are actually needed.

Production Offset: This time difference between the start of the kit for the first Work Center and the kitting for the Work Center where the part is needed is called Production Offset and can be entered for each line item in the BOM. For example, mechanical parts and chassis parts may not be needed until the work order reaches the final assembly work center. By identifying those parts as Final Assembly parts and entering “x” number of days of Production Offset, the parts will not be scheduled for delivery by the MRP nor need they be kitted for “x” days later than the rest of the Work Order. An entry in this field will displace the due date required by the amount of offset established in the BOM. If the user wanted a part or assembly to be ready on the third week of an order that took 4 weeks, then the user would enter a 3 week offset, and the MRP module would suggest ordering the parts three weeks later than otherwise. Please refer to the Material Requirements Planning Management manual.

Engineering Change Control: BOM’s are unique by their revision number and as such are used to control changes to the structure or components in a product. By creating a new Revision level of the BOM with an Effective Date the next day after the Obsolete Date for the old BOM Revision, the user can drive changes in material requirements, kitting and work orders. Or if the new BOM Revision level is to co-exist with the down-rev. Revision, the new BOM is just activated without obsoleting the old BOM. With BOM Revision control, several revisions may exist with different definitions for each. BOM Notes may be used to record Engineering Changes for tracking purposes in the absence of a formal ECO system or documentation.