What is a Bill of Material?
The Bill of Materials (BOM) is a comprehensive and extensive list of all the items, raw materials, instructions, and parts required to manufacture, repair, or service a product. The BOMs for manufacturing products are known as the Manufacturing Bill of Materials, and the ones used for servicing and repair are known as the Engineering Bill of Materials.
The format of a BOM is pretty simple, where the finished product is displayed at the top, followed by the breakdown of the individual parts and, finally, the raw materials at the bottom.
Significance of Bill of Material in E-Commerce
A bill of material is useful not only while building a product but also while repairing it. It is a comprehensive list that carries details of all necessary items along with instructions on how to build that item.
- The bill of material helps business owners plan the purchase of necessary materials and manage their inventory.
- It aids in controlling the budget properly and staying on schedule with the production of items.
- Maintaining records of produced items is one of the most significant functions of a BOM.
Prerequisites for Bill of Material (BOM)
- A bill of material should always carry all the necessary information about a product and the materials and instructions needed to make or repair it.
- The finished product details should always be at the top of the BOM, while the breakdown of materials should be at the bottom.
Use Case with Bill of Materials (BOM)
For example, if a business wants to build men’s leather shoes, the bill of material will include the size, category, material, accessories, etc. It will also have details about each part of the shoe, like the sole, the heel, the sole ribbons, the toecap, the inner sole, etc. Lastly, it will have a detailed breakdown of the process of assembling all these parts- beginning with cutting, binding, external processing, and finally, the assembly of these parts.