Weekly(ish) PDM postings - BOM Reconcilliation

I've deceided to try and write something interesting about PDM each week or so if I can get round to it.
Since this is the first week I've decided to look at something that gets very little attention from the PDM companies but I think is fundamental for getting ROI from PDM/PLM; that is bom transfers.

The physical process transfering a bom from one computer system to another is not too challenging - the main problem is the possesive nature of the BOM. Engineering people have their view of what should be in the bom and also manufacturing. I refer to a great book (now sadly out of print) Called "Bills of materials: structured for excellence" this is a great bbok arguing for one consolidated BOM for a company. In the book the author outlines the rationale that it is feasible to have one bill in a company.

In a previous job I wrote a link between a PDM and ERP system, we basically minimized the overlap to simplify the process. Basically we transfered the minimum data that the ERP need to populate a generic plant and then allowed other sites to copy this bill and work on it. There was no reverse transfer from ERP back.

So why bother doing this. In one word duplication! At the current time most companies - including many large multinationals I've worked with - still print out the engineering bom and rekey it into the downstream systems. This still amazes me since the tools to transfer are getting better and better.

Let's make use of XML/XSL and stop this madness.

... more to be added on this one

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