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📋 BOM Management Guide

Create and manage Bills of Materials with automatic cost calculations and multi-level support.

📺 Watch: How to Create a BOM

7 minutes • Complete BOM tutorial

🎯 What is a Bill of Materials?

A Bill of Materials (BOM) is a complete list of materials needed to make a product, including:

  • Material quantities - How much of each material per unit
  • Material costs - Automatic cost calculation
  • Sub-assemblies - Products made from other products
  • Waste allowance - Extra material for scrap/defects

📝 Creating a Simple BOM

Step-by-Step Process

  1. Navigate to Products → Select Product
  2. Click the BOM tab
  3. Click "Add Material"
  4. Select material from dropdown
  5. Enter quantity needed per unit of product
  6. Repeat for all materials
  7. Click Save

📌 Example: Simple Chair BOM

Product: Wooden Chair

Materials needed per chair:

  • 4 × Wooden Leg (20cm)
  • 1 × Seat Board (40cm × 40cm)
  • 1 × Back Rest (40cm × 60cm)
  • 16 × Wood Screw
  • 50ml × Wood Glue

System automatically calculates:

  • Total material cost per chair
  • Materials needed for any quantity (e.g., 100 chairs = 400 legs)

🔗 Multi-Level BOMs

For complex products made from sub-assemblies:

Creating Sub-Assemblies

  1. Create BOM for each sub-assembly first
  2. Then create final product BOM using sub-assemblies
  3. System automatically "explodes" all levels

📌 Example: Multi-Level Bicycle BOM

Level 1: Raw Materials

  • Steel tube, Rim, Spokes, Tire, etc.

Level 2: Sub-Assemblies

Wheel BOM:

  • 1 × Rim
  • 36 × Spokes
  • 1 × Hub
  • 1 × Tire

Level 3: Final Product

Bicycle BOM:

  • 1 × Frame
  • 2 × Wheel (sub-assembly)
  • 1 × Handlebar
  • 1 × Seat

System calculates: 1 Bicycle = 72 Spokes (2 wheels × 36 each)

💰 Cost Calculations

System automatically calculates:

  • Material Cost per Unit = Sum of (Quantity × Material Unit Cost)
  • Total Product Cost = Material Cost + Labor Cost + Overhead
  • Batch Costs = Unit Cost × Order Quantity

📺 Watch: Configure Production Costs

4 minutes • Labor costs & overhead setup

🏆 Best Practices

1. Include Waste Allowance

  • Add 5-10% extra material for scrap/defects
  • Higher for materials that are hard to work with
  • Update based on actual waste rates

2. Keep BOMs Updated

  • Review quarterly or when product changes
  • Document version history
  • Test new BOMs before production

3. Use Consistent Units

  • All materials in same measurement system
  • Convert if needed (e.g., kg to grams)
  • Prevents calculation errors
💡 Pro Tip: Export BOMs to Excel for sharing with suppliers or for cost analysis. Go to BOM → Export.

🎯 Next Steps

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