Modernize Your BOM Process

The bill of materials (BOM) is a tool that has served the manufacturing industries well for decades. A typical manufacturer creates a collection of designs that make up a product, and then communicates a list of what the company needs to build or buy to produce it. Although the BOM is still the most common practice, the approach was designed in the age of mass-produced, mechanical goods and isn’t sufficient for today’s complex products.

BOMs still play a critical role in defining and communicating product information. But the process has long suffered from inefficiency and significant non-value-added administrative time that could be better spent on design. As product development has become more complex, BOMs have continued to work as a communication tool, but no longer support a world-class engineering process.

It’s time to take product definitions to the next level. Companies must break free from the BOM as the master product definition and leverage digital, virtual product modeling and simulation across the enterprise. Today’s manufacturers need this approach to manage complexity, increase agility, and increase customer responsiveness while maintaining quality and dramatically improving engineering productivity.

Learn how a virtual product definition provides a better approach to product development.