Why an mBOM Alone Isn’t Sufficient

A Complimentary CIMdata Educational Webinar with John MacKrell, Chairman, CIMdata

28 October 2021
11:00 EDT | 08:00 PDT | 17:00 CEDT

Do any of the following statements about BOMs sound familiar?

We define a single mBOM as the master structure for our product definitions. This does not support planning, design, documentation, installation, services, and other downstream activities.
mBOMs are not sufficient to describe product configurations and variations.
The inability to support configured products from design through manufacturing and operational life limits the realization of a digitalized enterprise that can create and benefit from the digital thread.
Organizational churn leads to the loss of valuable knowledge.

Many of CIMdata’s industrial clients cling to the mBOM (manufacturing BOM) as the single source of truth for product structures. The thought process seems to generally follow “We build the product from the mBOM so it must be the master BOM.” While an mBOM may serve well as the master BOM for some relatively simple products, this is not the case when products become moderately complex, when they have a multitude of potential configurations, and when companies want to support capabilities, such as using the digital thread to support products throughout their lifecycles.

This webinar will delve into some of the issues and problems with this course of action and offer ways to alleviate them. The webinar will also describe the other BOMs critical to supporting activities like systems design, digitalization, and digital thread.

What will I learn?

You will learn about the many forms of BOMs and gain an understanding about how to use them.
You will understand why the mBOM is not able to support advanced product lifecycle concepts.
You will learn why the mBOM is too inflexible to support highly configured and variable products.
You will learn how to encourage groups to share and make knowledge readily available.

Who should attend?

Product planners and managers, product configuration specialists, PLM team leaders, PLM team members, PLM users, product development engineers, manufacturing engineers, field service personnel, product managers, IT leadership, solution providers, and anyone who wants to learn more about PLM and BOM processes.

During the webinar you’ll also have the opportunity to ask questions about the topics discussed.