Types of Bills of Materials (BOM’s) in Manufacturing

There are quite a few types of bill of materials in manufacturing, and each is very important in its own right.  All of them could not really work without the other, because they all benefit from one another and keep a manufacturer organized.  With a proper bill of materials, it would be impossible to keep track of all of this because it can be complicated.

The manufacturing bill of materials is involved with all of the parts and assemblies to deliver a finished product.  Even the parts before assembly are included in the manufacturing bill of materials, so it is a pretty detailed plan.  If you were ever curious about how to improve your management of bill of materials, there is a great place to go called https://www.openbom.com.

Let’s get right into some of the types of bills of materials.  You should have a much better understand of all of the types and figure out how they all work together to form a final product.

Single Level BOM

The first type that I will mention is the single level bill of materials.  This is involving nothing complex, and all of the assemblies are taking place for the first time.  In other words, there are no subassemblies involved with a single level bill of materials.

This is the least complex out of the bill of materials listed, so it is like the building block compared to the next BOM.

Multi-Level BOM

Next, we have a multi-level BOM.  This is like a single level, but more complex.  There are subassemblies on a multi-level bill of materials, so it is much more complex and confusing to some people.

For a product that is advanced and has a lot of assembly in many steps, there is certainly going to be a multi-level bill of materials used.

Production BOM

Next, we have a production bill of materials.  This is a very effective bill of materials because it will tell you the parts, descriptions, quantities, and other various things.  It is very useful because for a work order you will have the exact costs figured out and other information aspects that you need to know.

It is a great way for a manufacturer to keep track of any raw materials and ensure that everything is accounted for in a work order for a new product or products.

Assembly BOM

The last bill of materials type that I will list is the assembly bill of materials.  This is important because it lists the materials and their quantities to fully assemble a product to its finished state.  It also has subassemblies because it has both single-level and multi-level functions involved.

And there you have it for types of bill of materials and hopefully, it makes sense how they are really all related after you think about it.  If you found this post helpful in understand the types of bill of materials, then please share this post with someone that would be interested!