EPDM Document BOMs vs. EPDM Item BOMs

A lot of people in the SolidWorks Enterprise PDM community were excited when EPDM Item BOMs were introduced, but the EPDM Item Explorer and its related features still cause some confusion about how to use both EPDM Document BOMs and EPDM Item BOMs.  Unfortunately, it’s impossible to definitively settle the question of whether to use EPDM Document BOMs, EPDM Item BOMs, or both, in a short article.    However, there are some general rules of thumb worth considering in determining whether EPDM Document BOMs or EPDM Item BOMs best fit a company’s business strategy: 

• CAD Model Accuracy – When CAD models are completely accurate, or very close to accurate (all components modeled, all quantities accurate, assemblies structured properly, etc.), the Enterprise PDM Document BOM functionality is probably sufficient to complete BOMs for the enterprise.
• ERP-centric Environments – When ERP is the center of the universe for a company, and therefore a lot of part information is driven from operations back to engineering, Enterprise PDM Item BOM functionality can be a better fit.  For example, Engineer-to-Order companies that pre-configure designs using a configurator module in ERP would benefit more from Item BOMs than Document BOMs.
• Weldment Support – When SolidWorks weldments are a significant part of designs, EPDM Document BOMs frequently provide better support for downstream functionality (like getting total structural member lengths out to ERP) than EPDM Item BOMs.
• Multi-domain Products – When a company’s products are electro-mechanical in nature, and include design data from multiple software applications, Enterprise PDM Item BOM functionality is often a better fit than EPDM Document BOMs due to the ability to create top level BOMs without file associations.
• xBOMs Required – When an organization needs to independently (but synchronously) manage separate BOMs, such as EBOMs (Engineering BOMs) and MBOMs (Manufacturing BOMs), the combination of EPDM Document BOMs and EPDM Item BOMs is likely the best fit.  When more than two flavors of BOM are required, even this approach can break down however.

Hopefully, these guidelines clear up a bit about when to use EPDM Item BOMs and when to use EPDM Document BOMs.  Naturally, there is a lot more to the discussion, and every business’ situation is different.  For more information about Enterprise PDM Item BOMs and Enterprise PDM Document BOMs, or to discuss which might be best for you, please contact us.

Tags: BOM, Document BOM, EBOM, Enterprise PDM, Enterprise PDM BOM, EPDM BOM, Item BOM, MBOM, SolidWorks, SolidWorks EPDM, SolidWorks Weldment, xBOM