Has Your BOM Solution Bombed?

In the world of product development and manufacturing, the bill of materials (BOM) is a critical product information record for both the engineering and manufacturing teams. Traditionally, BOMs have been created and updated in spreadsheets, and communicated to internal teams, outsourced manufacturers and suppliers via email, phone or fax. Usually, final BOMs are also loaded into the ERP systems. However, compressed product lifecycles, geographically dispersed project teams, cost pressures, outsourced partnerships, and stringent regulatory requirements are challenging the traditional BOM management and communication in a number of ways.