I’d like to ask what exactly are the difficulties in creating a BOM for the design of non-standard projects
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Background: I work on custom project management software. I have visited seven or eight pressure vessel manufacturing companies; I am not familiar with design and manufacturing processes, and I have not had direct communication with experts from those departments. Here’s how it works: our company developed its own project management software. From my perspective as a layperson in a non-manufacturing industry, this software has significantly reduced the amount of data that employees need to enter – all that’s required is to import the sales orders and BOMs; subsequent purchase orders and production processes are then handled based on those imported BOMs. However, all companies have reported that the workload they most want to reduce is the creation of BOMs. I also looked it up online; nowadays, with plugins for CAD, it’s possible to generate a simple BOM directly, including information such as materials and quantities. Compared to the BOM template that my system needs to input, this template includes two additional columns for weight and the number of units. As shown in the figure below: I also looked up standards for materials as well as some foreign websites, and found that there should be a corresponding relationship among the material, grade, and weight. Following my approach to software development, I’ve made some efforts to accumulate knowledge (it’s purely my own idea as a beginner in design); I’ve incorporated the conversion between grades and weights into CAD, used CAD to calculate the volume of the components, and then selected the appropriate grade – which allows me to determine the weight of the material. The weight can also be calculated in this way. So I really can’t figure out at which step the difficulty lies in creating a BOM from the material information; I’m utterly puzzled. I hope the experts here can offer some guidance.
In the design of custom projects, the difficulties in creating a BOM from the required materials lie mainly in the following aspects: 1. **Variety and complexity**: Custom projects typically refer to products with high levels of customization or personalized requirements, and the design and specifications for each project vary. Therefore, when creating a BOM, it is necessary to select materials and determine the manufacturing process based on the specific design drawings and technical requirements. This results in the BOM content being extremely complex and difficult to standardize. 2. **High precision requirements**: Every component and material in the BOM must be highly precise, with many details such as size, material, and weight involved. Any small mistake can lead to the failure of the entire project. This requires designers to have a thorough understanding of the properties and specifications of materials, as well as sufficient experience to anticipate and resolve potential problems. 3. **Material substitution and selection issues**: In actual production, it may be necessary to substitute the materials originally planned due to market supply problems. This requires designers to have the ability to handle such substitutions flexibly and to recalculate relevant parameters to ensure that the alternative materials do not affect the product’s performance and safety. 4. **Integration and Coordination**: The creation of a BOM requires not only active involvement from the design department but also close collaboration with various departments such as procurement, production, and quality control. How to efficiently coordinate the work of these departments to ensure accurate information transmission and effective execution is a major challenge. 5. **Limitations of software tools**: Although modern CAD software and other design tools can automatically generate simple BOMs, it is difficult for software to handle complex or special materials and components in a fully automated manner. Furthermore, the versatility of the software may also result in it not fully meeting the specific requirements of certain industries or enterprises. In summary, generating a BOM is not a simple task of data entry; it requires a deep understanding of the design, extensive knowledge of materials, and coordinated efforts in project management. These factors work together to make the creation of a BOM complex and difficult in practical operations. .
Thank you for the answer! After reading your reply, I feel that for the design of non-standard projects, the main reason why BOM generation cannot be standardized is the selection of material grades; it is especially in terms of grade selection that CAD is completely unable to replace designers. As for other factors such as dimensions and weight, particularly dimensions, as long as the drawings are designed correctly, the likelihood of inaccurate measurement data from CAD is very low. As for weight, I think it’s still possible to calculate it quickly. By standard, the material grade specifies the content and proportion of each impurity; based on the density of these impurities and their amounts in that grade, it should be possible to calculate the density corresponding to each grade. (Just my personal opinion)
Your understanding is correct; especially in the process of generating BOMs for non-standard projects, the selection of material grades is indeed a critical and complex aspect. This aspect often requires professional knowledge of materials as well as experience-based judgment, and different usage environments and functional requirements impose various specifications and restrictions on the materials used. The method you mentioned for calculating material density through theoretical calculations is feasible to a certain extent, especially for some commonly used materials and standard components. In fact, many advanced CAD and CAE software packages also provide material databases that assist designers in quickly selecting and calculating material densities as well as other relevant physical property parameters. However, for some special, non-standard, or new types of materials, it may be necessary to manually search for data or conduct experimental measurements. Furthermore, the actual performance of materials can also be influenced by various factors such as processing techniques and heat treatment; these all require designers and process engineers to make professional judgments based on specific circumstances. Therefore, although modern technology can greatly assist us in creating BOMs quickly and accurately, for custom projects, the expertise and experience of designers remain indispensable. At the same time, close cooperation and information exchange with other departments are also essential to ensure the accuracy of the BOM and the smooth progress of the project. .
Our previous company has worked with this type of BOM; it’s called MPS, the Material System Management. But to be honest, it’s still not possible to achieve complete standardization. A 80% fixed BOM can be confirmed, with a 20% margin left. Anyway, everyone understands it, but no one can do it.