Bill Of Material Complexity
Bills of Material (BOM) in
many organizations are unnecessarily complex. Excess
complexity increases the number of transactions, computation time
for an MRP system, work orders and errors. It also leads to
unnecessary "kitting". BOM complexity increases the effort required
for cycle
counting.
Simplifying the BOM
The key to BOM simplification is
simplification of the process.
When subassemblies are combined into a single assembly operation on
the plant floor, it reduces the need to carry inventory and track
inventory at the subassembly level. Linking subassembly operations
to the main assembly with Direct Link or Kanban achieves the same
result.
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A BOM Simplification Example
In the example below, a simple peristaltic pump had
three levels of subassembly. By building the
entire pump in one location, the company flattened the
BOM to a
single-level. In addition, most parts were
floor-stocked which further reduced warehouse
inventories and transactions.
The result was a 26% reduction in
part numbers and associated transactions.
Most BOMs have more than the three levels in this
example and the resulting benefits of simplification are
correspondingly greater.
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