Modeling bills of material

A bill of material (BOM) is a list of raw materials (components), byproducts, and end products that can be used when producing a product. The BOM effectively converts one or more components into an end product and optional byproducts. You define the BOM in the Bills Of Material table.

When defining a bill of material, you create a record in the Bills Of Material table for each component, byproduct and end product that makes up the BOM. For each product within the BOM, you specify the Type and the Quantity. The set of records is linked together based on a common Name value. All rows with the same BOM Name are collected and generated as a single bill of material. Therefore, you must use the same Name for all records that make up a single BOM.

Before creating the BOM, you must define all products (components, byproducts and end products) in the Products table.

You set up period - site - product - BOM relationships in the Bill Of Material Assignments table. Bills of material are selected based on the Assignment Policy and associated Policy Parameter.

BOM example

In the following example, a series of components are assembled to make a cell phone using a bill of material. As part of the process, there is scrap produced as a byproduct. The phone is assembled at the MFG site, the components are provided from the SUPPLIER. Therefore, you will define Products, Bills Of Material records, Bill Of Material Assignments records, Production Policies, Site Sourcing Policies and Transportation Policies to create the complete structure:

Products table

Bills Of Material table

Note that all records for the BOM have the same Name. Also note that the Quantity does not have to be an integer.

Bill Of Material Assignments table

Production Policies table

Site Sourcing Policies table

Transportation Policies table