CXInsight

CXInsight MetaBOM manager 

One of the most challenging problems in contract manufacturing is the handling of a customer's new bill of materials (BOM). The BOM defines what product variant will be produced and in what version and it is crucial for a manufacturer to be completely certain they have the correct BOM available for the requested product. A BOM can also contain additional information such as, alternative components and non-electronics information including mechanical parts, sub-BOMs, PCBs, software program references etc. These BOM problems are solved in the CXI MetaBOM Manager.

BOM Problems

Product development (a ‘system' or ‘build') contain a number of BOMs, following the hierarchical structure of the product: The Master BOM contains the configuration of the product, the list of modules from which a product is built. Every line in the Master BOM can be a part of, but also a new BOM with sub-BOMs and so on.

• The Module BOMs are the lists describing the content of the modules. The Module BOMs can contain lines with parts, but also lines with sub-BOMs of PCBs or mechanics used.
• The PCB BOMs mostly contain the bare board and  the electronic components (parts) used (eventually the alternatives for these parts AVL) as well as mechanical parts and references to software to be loaded to the PCB when ready
• The Preliminary BOM is generated from a logical design tool (i.e. schematic) to inform the potential supplier of materials needed for the product that is under construction. Preliminary BOMs are updated in parallel to the product development and the contract manufacturer uses it for initial pricing or informative logistic activities.

BOMs: Rarely Consistent and Stable

BOMs can be generated from Schematics, CAD-systems, ERP/MRP systems and Component Management systems. They come in ASCII files, spreadsheets, PDFs and even hand written.The syntax varies perpetually and the content changes per product, per development stage, per version, per NPI phase and even the parts on the BOM can have different numbers and names (library element, customer part number, manufacturer part number, vendor part number, internal part number, etc. etc). BOMs are not only used in data preparation for production but also for quotations and logistics and so it is essential for the manufacturer to be able to manage customer BOMs quickly and efficiently.

The Solution: CXInsight MetaBOM Manager

The CXInsight MetaBOM Manager analyses and unifies the incoming customer BOM from whichever source in spreadsheet format and adds missing information already available in the CXInsight database (availability, price, assembly time, assembly costs etc.). It then converts this BOM into a user definable dynamic matrix, the Project MetaBOM, in which the columns can contain references (hyperlinks, URLs, etc.) to other sources of information such as a supplier's web page, the internal ERP system or the customer's vault. Line items in the MetaBOM structure can be expandable BOMs, allowing a full hierarchical and dynamic structure. Problems with the BOM are reported back to the customer in the CXInsight project structure (traceability) and modifications to the BOM are subject to the revision control mechanisms of CXInsight.

CXInsight MetaBOM Manager capabilitis:

• Import BOM
• Export BOM
• View BOM
• Merge BOMs
• Compare BOMs
• Join approved vendor list (AVL)
• Merge approved vendor list (AVL)
• Check syntax BOM
• Set chosen
• Mechanical parts
• Associated parts (add, delete, view)
• Search
• Find info
• Add status (Labels)