Hold one materials list per item, with versions, wastage and cost.
A bill of materials lists everything one finished item needs: each material, the quantity, the wastage you allow for, and the bought-out parts. Held in one place, it lets the quotation, the purchase list and the shop floor work from the same numbers. When the design changes next month, last month’s version stays on record.
The estimator keeps the list in a spreadsheet, with a column added for one customer years ago. The storekeeper has a different idea of what goes into the same item. When the drawing changes, one of the two finds out late.
One item has one list of what goes under it, carrying a version and a date. A quotation is costed from it, a purchase list is drawn from it, and a work order is released against it. Wastage sits on the line where it belongs, so the edge banding you always lose is priced and not absorbed.
What your team uses today.
The module takes over these, one at a time, so nothing has to stop while it is set up.
- The estimator’s own spreadsheet of material lists
- A notebook of cutting sizes and wastage
- Phone calls to ask which fitting goes in
The problems this is meant to ease.
What bill of materials does.
What this looks like in a working week.
Illustrative scenarios, written to show the shape of the work. They are not accounts of client systems.
The people who open this every day.
From first conversation to daily use.
Walk through your products
You show a few finished items and describe how they are made. You get a written note on how the parent items and sub-assemblies will be laid out. Begin with a few products.
Load the materials and units
You supply item names, units and wastage habits from your sheets. A trial import comes back for you to correct before anything is relied on. Corrections come cheaply here.
Check costs against purchases
Recent purchase rates are connected to the lines. A costed list for a few products is laid beside your own working for comparison.
Try the explode screen
The estimator and the storekeeper explode a batch on the trial. You hear what is missing, and the layout is changed. Gaps surface early.
Move quotations onto it
New quotations start from the list. The team is shown how to save a version and how to mark alternates.
How you would know it is working.
Record where you stand before it goes live, so the change is measured against your own figures.
- Quotations raised from a saved list against those typed by hand
- Material shortfalls found at the line, by item
- Wastage allowed against wastage seen, by material
- Orders where cost differed from the quoted material cost
- Items with a current version and an owner
It is one part of a system, not an island.
A module earns its place by what it passes to the next one. These are the connections we set up most often.
- Production planning
- Work orders
- Purchase orders
- Stock
- Estimates and quotations
Products that include it.
How we would put it in.
Questions owners ask about bill of materials.
Every job we make is a one-off. Is this useful?
Yes, in a lighter form. A fabricator keeps a list for a standard gate or a rolling shutter and changes the sizes per job. The gain comes from costing each job against that list afterwards.
Is a spreadsheet still enough for us?
Often it is. It stops being enough the day two people keep copies, or rates move and old quotations go out at last year’s cost. A store that issues from memory is the third sign.
Can it read rates from our accounting software?
Yes, purchase rates and item masters come across from your accounting software, so the costed list uses what you actually paid. Nothing is keyed twice. Books stay with your accountant.
Can our existing lists be loaded in?
Send the sheets in whatever shape they are in. They are cleaned and imported before go-live. Costing errors tend to hide in these sheets, so they are the first thing we look at.
What makes a bill of materials cost more or less?
The count of finished items and the depth of their sub-assemblies set much of the effort. Connections to stock, purchase and quotations add to it, as do the users involved. The quotation is itemised once the scope is read, and a part can be left out. Scope sets the figure.
What decides how long setup takes?
The state of your material lists decides it. A release holding a few products with costs can come early, and the rest follow. Item names, units and wastage come from you, and the proposal fixes the order of work along with its dates.
Businesses that ask for this.
Modules that work with it.
Tell us how you handle bill of materials today.
A spreadsheet, a register or another system: say which, and we will tell you plainly what is worth changing.
What happens after you share your requirements
- A senior engineer reads your answers. Nobody phones first.
- Within one business day you get a written note: what we understood, what we would start with, and the questions we still have.
- If it fits, a proposal follows with the order of work, what we need from you and what you receive at each step.
- No call is booked and nothing is paid until you have read the note. Your details stay with us.
Start with your requirements
Seven short steps that tell us what you need. A senior engineer reads them before anyone gets in touch.
Share your requirements