Manual vs. Automatic Bill of Materials

A bill of materials contains a lot of information that manufacturers need in order to put together a product and ensure standardization across all of the products they produce. And it’s possible to generate bills of materials manually and automatically. Let’s talk about the benefits of automating this process.

Manual:

Just about every manufacturing job begins with a bill of materials. So this type of document is extremely important. Manually creating a bill of materials means relying on memory or written notes, which can both prove faulty or be lost over time. And each one can’t necessarily be easily saved and duplicated for future jobs.

Problems:

When a bill of materials is created manually, its creator runs the risk of forgetting to include every last item required for a particular finished product. Quantities could be mixed up, individual parts mislabeled, or any other number of errors could be made. It can also take an unnecessarily long amount of time to create each individual bill of materials, especially when a certain bill of materials is needed all the time for a product that is constantly in high demand.

Automatic:

Saving and duplicating a bill of materials time after time is one of the key features of an automated manufacturing system. No one’s memory is relied upon. The computer system stores data on each bill of materials it generates, and that information can be easily accessed and reproduced when a product reaches its automatic reorder point or when a new purchase order is received.

Solutions:

Automating the generation of bills of materials is a big time saver. There’s no need to wait for someone to put one together; all of that work is done for you. Plus, this virtually eliminates the risk of errors finding their way into a bill of materials. The correct parts and quantities will always be laid out in each bill of materials, standardizing this essential step of the manufacturing process.