bill of materials
tutorial and demo
introduction to the bill of materials module
A Bill of Materials (BOM) is a comprehensive hierarchical list of raw materials, components, and instructions used in manufacturing a product or service. They are crucial for manufacturers, providing necessary items and assembly instructions for efficient production. Accurate BOMs prevent production delays and increased operating costs.
Different types of BOMs are used in engineering, design, operations, and manufacturing. Manufacturing BOMs are necessary for designing ERP and MRP systems, and include part number, name, quantity, unit of measurement, assembly references, construction methods, and notes.
Ready to use the BOM section in Bombyx for your product?
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bom basics
navigating to the product
Accessing the Bill of Materials section in Bombyx requires a few steps. Firstly, tap on 'Product Information in the top menu bar, to locate the product either by scrolling or using the search bar function.
For new products, tap on the '+' icon, enter the required information, and press the 'Add' button. Then, click on the 'BOM' button in the product menu bar to access the BOM section.
Once you're in the product, you can access the BOM section by clicking on the 'BOM' button in the product menu bar.
toggles
Toggles are tablets with the function to conceal work from external stakeholders or suppliers.
You can display the upload on the Bombyx platform and include it in the PDF file by turning on the toggle.
import from library
The 'import from library' function lets you import reusable component data from your BOM libraries.
To do this, type the BOM reference number and/or description you want to import into the search bar. The dropdown will display filtered results based on your search, and you can select the desired component from the list.
Once you've located the required component, tap on it to import it into the product BOM.
import from a group
To import a set of components that are typically used together, change the dropdown to the left of the search bar from 'Library' to 'Group'.
Type the name of the BOM group you want to import into the search bar and select it from the filtered results that appear.
Then, tap on the necessary group in the search results dropdown, and all of the components for that BOM type within that group will be automatically imported into the product BOM.
import from a product
To reuse BOM components, you can import data from a previously created product. Select the dropdown menu to the left of the search bar, and change it to 'Product'.
And type in the name of the product you want to import from.
Select the product from the filtered results and tap on it to automatically import all of the BOM components for that type.
adding a new bom component
Tapping the + icon.
This brings up a popup for entering various information, such as dropdowns and text boxes.
If the input field is a dropdown, it contains predefined values that can be added in the system masters section.
Alternatively, if there's a plus icon next to the field, the value can be added directly from the popup, and it will be saved in the system masters section for reuse.
upload an image
Tap the upload icon in the top right corner of the material card to upload an image.
You can drag your imagery into the upload space or select files to upload from your device by tapping the upload icon on the bottom right-hand side of the upload space.
After selecting your image, crop it by dragging the corner of the crop area and resizing it to your requirements.
Finally, tap the ‘Add’ button to add the designs to the products’ design area.
adding components
In component information, you'll see the supplier field which lists suppliers.
And a Unit of Measure (UoM) field to measure quantity/volume and weight.
If the component has multiple compositions, then you can add multiple compositions by tapping the + icon, or remove the most recent fields with the trash can icon.
supporting documents
The quality section of the component has a supporting document area that backs up the information entered in the component card. Supporting documents may be test reports or certificates confirming the organic status of the component, for instance.
To upload a supporting document, open the dropdown and tap the upload icon.
Tap the upload icon next to the ‘Supporting Documents’ subheading and a popup will appear.
There are two ways of uploading a file, you can either drag and drop the file into the grey box or tap the upload icon. After uploading the file, give it a title and tap ‘Add’.
The supporting document has four actions available in the action panel: edit, preview, information, and bin.
editing components
If you need to make changes to the information you’ve previously entered on a component, you can easily do so by tapping the ‘Edit’ icon located on the bar of the component card.
add/update bom components library
You can sync any changes you’ve made to a BOM component in a product to the BOM library for future use in newly added products by tapping the ‘Add to Library’ icon located at the top of the BOM component card.
A popup window will appear with the BOM reference number already filled in. If you want to proceed with the update, simply tap the 'update' button to apply the details to the library.
However, if you want to copy the details with a different reference number, edit the pre-filled text and then tap the 'update' button.
If you change your mind and decide not to proceed with the action, tap the 'cancel' button, and the changes will not be applied to the library.
deleting components
Deleting a single component from the BOM will not delete it from the library. However, you can remove the item you no longer need by tapping the bin icon.
On the other hand, if you want to delete multiple components, you can tap on the checkbox of each component you wish to delete. This will mark it as a tick. Then, click the delete icon next to the search bar. This action will bring up a popup.
If you are sure you want to delete the selected components, click yes. Alternatively, click no to cancel this action.
rearranging components
If you want to change the order of the BOM components, you can easily do so by tapping the rearrange button.
After that, a panel will appear on the right-hand side with a list of all the components included in the BOM.
From there, you can drag and drop the items to the order that suits you.
add tags to components
You can create tags for your bill of materials, which can be useful for organizing and searching for specific components. To create tags for a component, simply tap on the tag icon on the component card.
This will open a popup where you can create tags specific to that component. Once you have added your tags, click the save button.
To search for or import a bill of material using tags, go to the top right-hand side of the page and find the search bar and the bom library dropdown menu. Select "tag" from the dropdown menu, and you can start searching for the tag that references your bom.
When the bill of material appears in the search bar, you can tap to import it.
approve/reject quality
To approve or reject BOM components, you need to follow a few steps. Firstly, select the checkbox located at the top left of the BOM component card, which will activate the status bar above the footer.
This status bar allows you to approve or reject the quality information of the components. After checking the BOM component checkboxes, navigate to the status bar and choose the approve option.
Then, you can add the approval date and the result, and optionally, you can make a comment for your suppliers and team to see.
Once you have entered all the required information, tap the update button. Finally, tap the update icon on the right-hand side of the footer bar to see how your component card status bars change color to indicate the new status.
mark as complete
You can mark a product as complete by simply checking the ‘Mark as Complete’ checkbox, which provides an updated progress report of your product.
This helps you and your team to easily track your product's lifecycle and identify areas that require further action.
bom status
quality auto approvals
After turning on the quality auto-approval, a dropdown will appear.
This dropdown will allow you to select the supplier of the component you'd like to remain approved when imported into a product.
product and component supplier
To select from multiple product suppliers that were added to a product, tap the checkbox of the product component supplier mapping field. This action will make a table visible for you to choose from the product supplier dropdown list.
Similarly, to select from multiple component suppliers that were added to a component in the quality information, tap the checkbox of the component supplier dropdown field. This action will display a list of all the component suppliers assigned to that product in the component supplier dropdown.
It is possible to have multiple suppliers for a single product or component, for example, if you're manufacturing in different locations or countries. This information is valuable to Bombyx because it helps to identify unique information related to a specific supplier.
select categories
By tapping on the categorisation dropdown, you can assign a component to its own category if it is specific to a product such as kids or homeware.
You can select the brand and multiple categories for the component, making it easier to find when searching or filtering through the system.
adding colourways
The colourway selection within a BOM component is linked to the colours that were initially assigned to the product during its creation in the product information. This means that a dropdown menu of colour options will be available for you to select from.
A colourway refers to a design that has been created in a different colour scheme than the original design. For instance, if a product has two colourways, namely Midnight Ocean and Charcoal, this indicates that there are two different colour options available for that particular product.
colour reference
When selecting a color for a specific colorway of a BOM component, the color reference refers to the desired color for that component in that particular colorway.
For instance, if the artwork application for a product is embroidery and the color of the embroidery for the Midnight Ocean colorway is turquoise. At the same time, it is yellow for the charcoal colorway, you should choose turquoise from the color reference dropdown for the Midnight Ocean colorway option.
colour confirmation reference
The color confirmation ref comes into play when the supplier has provided multiple color variations for the same color reference, which is commonly known as a 'lab dip' in the apparel industry.
A lab dip is essentially a dyed fabric sample created to meet the color standards of a designer, typically produced by a dye house or color lab. Its purpose is to provide the designer with an idea of what the fabric color will look like during manufacturing.
Typically, a supplier will offer several options, labeled as A, B, C, D, or 1, 2, 3, etc., which are as close as possible to the requested color.
adding multiple colourways
To add multiple colours, you can tap the add icon located on the right side of the colour table.
Once clicked, a new table will appear for you to input your secondary colour information.
Once you have completed this step, simply tap the add button to save the information.
creating a colour
If you are wanting to add a colour to your material that has not yet been created in the library, you can do so by creating a new colour. Firstly, tap the plus icon next to the colour dropdown, and a popup will appear.
In this popup, you can add all the necessary information related to your colour or artwork, such as colour names, descriptions, and colour references, as well as groups, images, and supporting documents.
deleting colours
To delete a colour, simply tap on the bin icon located to the right of the colour table. This action will delete the selected colour immediately.
However, if you have accidentally deleted a colour, you will need to add it back in again.
colour auto approval
When turning on the colour auto-approval feature, a further toggle button will appear to the right of each colour reference and colour confirmation line.
You can then tap the toggle buttons for the colour references that you want to always remain approved by that specific component supplier when importing into a product.
Once you have selected the appropriate colour references, tap the "add" button.
approve/reject colours
To approve or reject a colour, you must first tap on the component card that you wish to update with a new status.
Once you have done so, a panel containing all the colour information will appear down the right-hand side of the page. In this panel, you will notice a checkbox located on the left-hand side of each colourway name and reference.
To update the colour status, simply check the checkbox next to the desired colour status and select "approve" or "reject" from the status update footer bar.
After completing the necessary fields in the status update footer bar, tap the update button located on the right-hand side of the footer bar. The selected status, along with your name and the date/time, will appear underneath the colour for which you applied for the status.
It is important to note that statuses can be overwritten.
delete colour status
If you have made a mistake when applying a colour status, but do not wish to overwrite it, you can simply check the checkbox located to the left of the status information located underneath the colour reference and colour confirmation reference.
This allows you to clear the status of multiple colour references simultaneously. After selecting the desired colour references, navigate to the header of the side panel and tap the "Delete Colour Statuses" button to clear the selected colour statuses.
bom usage
navigating to bom usage
The BOM Usage function is a valuable feature that allows you to identify where a particular component is being used in other products.
This feature proves particularly helpful when you need to make changes to a BOM item and want to apply those changes across multiple products, rather than making the changes manually for each product.
To access the BOM Usage page, simply tap on the usage icon located on the component card.