A blog by Oleg Shilovitsky
Information & Comments about Engineering and Manufacturing Software

Manufacturing BOM dilemma

Manufacturing BOM dilemma
Oleg
Oleg
8 October, 2014 | 2 min for reading

mbom-dilemma

Manufacturing process optimization is one of the biggest challenges in product development these days. Companies are looking how to low the cost, optimize manufacturing process for speed and to deliver large variety of product configurations. The demand for these improvements is very high. The time when engineering were throwing design”over the wall of engineering” is over. Engineering and manufacturing people should work together to optimize the way product is designed and manufactured at the same time. Which, in my view, leads to one of the most critical element of this process – Manufacturing BOM (MBOM).

In one of my earlier posts, I addressed the challenges PLM systems has to manage BOM. PLM vendors are recognizing the importance of manufacturing solutions. However, it is hard to deliver MBOM in PLM. It related to CAD roots of PLM products, historical disconnect of engineers from manufacturing processes, complexity of synchronization between multiple BOMs and problems of integrating with ERP systems. Vendors are encouraging companies to use PLM technologies to manage MBOM and to push right product MBOM information to ERP for execution. The advantage of that is the ability of PLM to deliver accurate product information derived from design and engineering BOM.

However, there is another side in this story- manufacturing planning. Fundamentally, MBOM is created by manufacturing engineers and it reflects the way product is built. It usually structured to reflect manufacturing assembly operations, workstations, ordering process, etc. In other words, MBOM is a reflection of manufacturing process based on information from product design. Company can decide to improve manufacturing process for existing product. It means most probably no changes for CAD design and EBOM, but will require to create a new version of MBOM.

As a result of that, MBOM has dual dependence of both correct engineering information from PLM system and manufacturing constraints and part information management by ERP. Both are absolutely important. By placing MBOM in PLM system company can create a complexity of manufacturing process planning in ERP. At the same time, ERP system (more specifically manufacturing modules) are not providing dedicated BOM planning tools capable to handle information from EBOM and MBOM simultaneously.

What is my conclusion? Manufacturing BOM is stuck between a rock and a hard places. It must reflect manufacturing process and stay connected to both PLM and ERP environment. It creates a high level of complexity for existing technologies and tools. To create a cohesive environment to manage MBOM is tricky and usually requires significant services and customization. Just my thoughts…

Best, Oleg

Disclaimer: I’m the co-founder and CEO of OpenBOM, a digital-thread platform providing cloud-native PDM, PLM, and ERP capabilities. With extensive experience in federated CAD-PDM and PLM architecture, I’m advocates for agile, open product models and cloud technologies in manufacturing. My opinion can be unintentionally biased.

Recent Posts

Also on BeyondPLM

4 6
24 August, 2018

I’m taking some time off with my family, so please excuse me for irregular blogging this week. My attention was...

19 July, 2010

The things are moving fast these days. One of the most fascinating trends is the emerging connection between physical and...

2 July, 2023

Andrew Sparrow’s article Top 8 Trends Shaping the Future of MES caught my attention earlier this week. The article speaks...

17 August, 2011

I feel a bit geeky today. I posted about part numbers, document number and numbering few times in the past....

6 October, 2016

Cloud technologies and applications are trending. Just few years ago the most of cloud PLM debates were about “cloud vs....

24 June, 2009

I watched many videos and demos related to Microsoft Bing during the last few weeks. Actually, I liked the idea...

6 June, 2025

I’m still digesting my Share PLM Summit experience. If you missed my previous articles, check them here – What I...

16 January, 2014

Last year I was writing about PLM and PaaS dilemma. As we move more into diversity of cloud PLM options,...

20 May, 2012

Last week was clearly Facebook week. However, if you had a chance to take your head out of Facebook IPO and Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla...

Blogroll

To the top