Working with multi-level BoMs

What is a multi-level BOM?

A multi-level bill of materials (BOM), sometimes referred to as an indented BOM, is a bill of materials that uses one or more sub-assemblies to produce the finished good.

How to set up a multi-level BOM?

Setting up a multi-level BoM in AccelGrid is quite simple. All you need to do is set up a BoM for the finished product as you normally would. This BoM will include components that need to be purchased and components that need to go through a sub-assembly. Once you have set up the BoM for the finished product, you also need to define separate BoMs for each of the sub-assembled components.

Let's assume that we are setting up a BoM of material for a bicycle. The BoM for our finished bicycle will look something like this:

However, the Frame component requires a sub-assembly and will have its own BoM which will look something like this:

We would also need to set up the frame to use the Manufacture route.

Now that we have set up the BoM for our sub-assembled component (Frame) let's take a look at our BoM structure using the Structure & Cost button on the bill of material.

As you can see from the BoM structure, the Bicycle's BoM also includes the "exploded" BoM for the frame as well. You can set up as many BoM levels as you require using this approach.

How do multi-level BoMs work with manufacturing orders?

Let's create a manufacturing order for our bicycle product and see how the multi-level BoM works.

By confirming the manufacturing order and clicking on the Check Availablity button, a replenishment will be triggered. To see the replenishment, go to Inventory -> Operations -> Replenishment.

Click on the Order Once link to create a manufacturing order for the frame. To automate this process for future assemblies, click on Automate Orders instead.

The manufacturing order for the frame contains all of the components we had set up in it's BoM.