Bills of material

Topic overview

A bill of material (BOM) is one of the most important master data elements used in production. It is usually a table with the list of components that make up a manufactured part. It contains basic information about the materials used to produce the finished product. For the system, it is a data set that allows defining subsequent production/material usage operations.

Example

The company manufactures a gear-wheel transmission consisting of 10 components (gears, shafts, keys, etc.). When the transmission is assembled at the assembly station and production is declared, the system, based on a bill of material, converts the components (by removing their appropriate quantity from the system) into the transmission.

The Bills of material application is composed of:

Header – it contains function buttons, a description, and additional resource list settings
Work pane – it is divided into:
- Table – it contains items or material lists assigned to a bill of material
- Line item editor – it allows adding and changing a line item selected in the table

Buttons available in the application header:

[New] – it makes it possible to add, duplicate, or create a new version of a bill of material
[Delete] – it makes it possible to set or remove a deletion marker
[Select action] – it makes it possible to assign a status to a bill of material. The following actions are available:
- [Release version] – it accepts a bill of material and allows its usage
- [Edit version] – it restores the possibility to edit a bill of material
- [Approve version] – it assigns a status that requires the verification and confirmation of a bill of material
- [Lock version] – it prevents the usage of a bill of material

The fields in the header include:

Bill of material (required) – the description/ID number of a bill of resources

Note

Additionally, there is a Version field next to the bill of material name. It is displayed if the function Master data versioning is activated in the application Customizing → Production. The function can be activated as part of the parent organization.

Description (required) – an additional bill of resources name.
Valid from time point – the validity date and time of a bill of resources. The field is editable if a new version of an existing bill of material is created.

The application header is composed of the following tabs:

General tab

Reference factor – it indicates the number of pieces of a target item that will be created after using a given bill of material
Receipts warehouse – it indicates which warehouse will take receipt of a finished product created from a given bill of material
Inventory management organization – it is an organization in which a given bill of material is defined. The field is filled in automatically with the data of an organization to which the user is assigned.
Status (information field) – depending on the defined action, a bill of material may be assigned the following statuses:
- Released – it is accepted and ready to use
- In process – it is being edited/modified
- Under approval – it is to be checked
- Blocked – it cannot be used
Site (filled in automatically) – it displays the organization of a defined receipts warehouse

Classifications tab

The tab makes it possible to assign a classification number for the purpose of data structuring. Data classifications are defined in the Classifications application. In order to add a classification to a bill of material, it is necessary to add a bills of resources classification.

Texts tab

The tab makes it possible to add a description/text to a bill of material.

Other fields tab

The tab makes it possible to adjust additional fields for a bill of material. An additional field may be used to enter data that is not provided in the system’s default tabs.

The tab contains the following buttons:

[Properties] – it allows editing existing fields
[New] – it adds a new field
[Delete] – it makes it possible to delete defined field parameters
[Arrange] – it makes it possible to adjust the view of fields in columns
[Generate table schema] – it defines a field table schema, enabling the user to use such a schema

The number of fields defined for a bill of material is not limited.

Line item filter tab

It makes it possible to filter table line items. Available filters include:

Validity – it makes it possible to filter table data by the validity date of a given resource. By default, it is set as today.
Line item classification – it makes it possible to filter table data by item classification
Change number – it makes it possible to filter table data by an item change number
Item – it makes it possible to filter table data by a given item from the table

Work pane – Table

In the table, items are assigned to a bill of material.

The table contains the following buttons:

[Edit] – it makes it possible to change line item data in the line item editor
[Mark/unmark for deletion] – it makes it possible to delete a resource from the table. Line items are deleted from the table after saving changes.
[Edit condition with substitute or formula of selected line item] – it makes it possible to edit defined formulas and usage conditions of a resource

Note

In the case of items/bills of material, parameters can be defined on the Other fields tab.

[Renumber] – it makes it possible to change the numbering method for a line item in the table

The following fields are available in the bill of material table:

Icons displayed by table line items:
- Semi-finished product
- Material
- Bill of material
- Co-product
- Line item to be deleted
- Line item to be edited/unsaved line item
Line item – a line item number (non-editable)
Text note – a comment on a line item
Bill of material component – the name of a line item added to a bill of material
Warehouse – the site of a line item added to the list
Classification – it displays the classification of a table line item
Change number – it displays a number used in a bill of material, routings and work elements or resource lists to enable the registration of changes to defined line items
Rejects – the percentage value of a material rejects quantity
Variable quantity – a quantity depending on a quantity specified in a production order, required to manufacture a given product

Example

The quantity of 5 pieces has been set in the Quantity field on the General tab of the bill of material header. An item assigned to the bill of material has a variable quantity defined as 10 pieces. This means that 10 pieces of the material defined in the bill of materials will be used to produce 5 pieces of the product. When a quantity of, for instance, 100 pieces is specified in a production order, the values will be recalculated accordingly and 200 pieces of the material contained in the bill of material table will be used.

Fixed quantity – in the case of a fixed quantity defined for a line item, such a quantity is not recalculated after defining the quantity of a production order – quantities will always be assigned the same value
Valid from/Valid to – line items may be determined in a time-dependent manner by using a time range defined in the column
Automatic reporting – it enables automatic warehouse movements

Work pane – Line item editor

The line item editor makes it possible to edit a selected table line item or add a new one.
The following buttons and fields are available in the line item editor’s toolbar:

Line item – it displays the number of the currently edited table line item or shows which item number is entered into the table when adding a new material
[New line item of selected category] – it allows the user to add a new line item of the currently selected category
[New material line item] – it allows the user to add a new item to a bill of material
[New co-product line item] – it allows the user to add a co-product to a bill of material
[New bill of material line litem] – it allows the user to add a bill of material to another bill of material – and thus create multi-level materials
[New version] – it allows the user to add a new version of an existing material from the table. The button is activated after adding a material to the table and editing it.
[Duplicate] – it allows the user to duplicate a material. The button is activated after adding a material to the table and editing it.
[Edit condition with substitute or formula of selected line item] – it makes it possible to edit defined formulas and usage conditions of a material
[Validate] – the feature verifies the correctness of entered data
[Accept current line item] – it adds a newly defined line item to the table
[Validate when accepting] – a selection button; once selected, data is validated when the [Accept current line item] button is used