OpenBOM SaaS reimagines PDM, PLM, and ERP with Product Data Intelligence and a Collaborative Workspace to solve data challenges
Displace TV is redefining how televisions are mounted, offering a completely wireless, vacuum-powered solution that eliminates the need for brackets, drilling, or complex installations. But behind this sleek, futuristic product was a major challenge: managing an increasingly complex design and manufacturing process.
OpenBOM is a powerful cloud-based platform that integrates with your existing tools and brings product information together into a single source of truth.
OpenBOM provides fully integrated CAD, Item and BOM, production planning, vendor, and purchasing management to support PDM/PLM functions, inventory planning, procurement, contract manufacturing, and RFQ processes.
OpenBOM provides a rich set of integration with CAD, PDM, PLM, ERP, and other enterprise applications and legacy data platforms.
OpenBOM is built using flexible data architecture supporting seamless data capture from any platform, files, folder, and legacy data sources.
Whether your teams are colocated, distributed, or fully remote, OpenBOM provides an engaging, intuitive, in-person collaboration experience with multiple options for real-time or asynchronous teamwork on files, product structure, and other related information.
The data management architecture of OpenBOM is built using flexible data architecture combining out of the box data objects and fully flexible data definitions…
OpenBOM provides predefined data model to manage item catalogs, BOM, Orders, Vendors, and Purchase Order. These data objects are flexible and can be fully customized
An Inside Look At The Ins & Outs Of Doing Business With Outside Sources
OpenBOM supports a wide range of integrations with CAD, PDM, PLM, ERP, and cloud file storage systems. Check Integration Page to learn more about integrations, functions, and supported platforms.
OpenBOM supports a wide range of integrations with CAD, PDM, PLM and cloud file storage systems. Integration with ERP systems are supported as paid services based on customer requirements.
OpenBOM is a global multi-tenant digital thread SaaS platform that manages product lifecycle and connects manufacturers and their supply chain networks. OpenBOM’s modern SaaS real-time collaboration and data management technology allows the creation and management of CAD files, Parts, Bills of Materials, Vendors, and Purchases across networks of engineers, supply chain managers, and contract manufacturers. OpenBOM enables people to share and collaborate online information from the initial design through all stages of engineering, manufacturing, and supply chain. OpenBOM is headquartered in Boston, MA.
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In this era of manufacturing, customers are demanding instant gratification. This means that manufacturers have had to evolve how they work in order to satisfy their customers. To meet the needs of their customers, manufacturers need to accomplish one thing: Go from development to production quickly and efficiently.
To accomplish this goal, manufacturers need to leverage tools in order to help them. However, manufacturers are still left using Excel which creates separated data silos and requires much more back and forth with digging through folders, files, and emails looking for the right Excel.
This is why we created OpenBOM. As a system to organize product information and streamline information processes in organizations and beyond Since our inception, we have evolved and manufacturers of all sizes use OpenBOM to help them go from development to production quickly and efficiently.
OpenBOM helps manufacturers to go from development to production quickly and efficiently by allowing them to accomplish the following:
OpenBOM’s goal is to solve the problem of data management complexity and decision support for industrial companies from SMB/SME manufacturing organizations to large enterprises.
Every engineering team and manufacturing company struggles with making decisions using accurate information. Think about the product and BOM complexity from the picture below.
Think about organizational complexity working with multiple teams, contractors and suppliers.
OpenBOM brings new methods of work by introducing engineering teams, manufacturing companies, contractors and suppliers to agile product development methods.
OpenBOM Vision for AI and Product Data Intelligence
OpenBOM provides a global digital thread SaaS platform that includes elements of product data management (PDM), product lifecycle management (PLM), and enterprise resource planning (ERP) to help industrial companies to collect data, organize information, collaboration, and lifecycle management processes.
OpenBOM plays the role of an integrated PDM/PLM/ERP solution for SMB/SME organizations and provides a system of engagement and intelligence for large enterprise companies.
OpenBOM provides a digital thread support for your multi-disciplinary design digital thread by aggregating data coming from multiple design (CAD) systems and services.
The foundation of the OpenBOM platform is distributed multi-tenant data platform capable to manage product data and all related pieces of information (engineering, manufacturing, supply chain, procurement, financial, etc.)
OpenBOM is integrated with all engineering (CAD) systems and, if needed, with other PDM, PLM, and ERP systems.
The core of the platform is a flexible data model capable to manage product information, product structure (BOM), and all relationships of Bill of Materials with other systems, products, vendors, contractors, and suppliers. By doing so, OpenBOM builds a global BOM knowledge graph and uses it as a foundation of data management.
On top of a sophisticated data management platform, OpenBOM provides a very simple and intuitive user experience with the foundation using familiar spreadsheet-like editing paradigms and collaborative tools.
OpenBOM architecture is built using a modern tech stack including polyglot persistence data management, microservices, and REST API. OpenBOM is hosted on AWS but is also available on other PaaS platforms.
The power of multi-tenant architecture allows both single enterprise tenant and multi-tenant solution for supply chain and SMB/SME companies
Scaling from public cloud (AWS) to private cloud instances and government/security clouds
Why BOM is the foundation of the OpenBOM product data model? Product Structure (or Bill of Materials) is a key element of the product data model and provides an essential foundation for any data managed in OpenBOM.
The bill of materials software is something that is often considered a simple thing. After all, what can be complex in a list of parts? However, as we can see in practice, manufacturing companies are usually underestimating the complexity and fail to manage it properly. BOM engineering is a complex discipline that requires sophisticated data management and if you’re trying to avoid it, the results can be brutal and painful. The results are usually very painful and coming faster than you can think – missed components, wrong cost estimation, delayed product deliveries, and frustrated engineers and customers running around trying to figure out where is the last and most updated bills of materials. At OpenBOM, we believe in openness and simplicity as the main drivers to help companies to get up to the speed with data management science behind the Bill of Materials. It should be easy to start using OpenBOM and discover how to do it step by step. The Bill of Material is a structure representing all items needed to make a product. Depending on the product and business it includes a different level of detail about how the product is engineered, manufactured, assembled, sold, and maintained. Every engineering and manufacturing business should be concerned if parts and assemblies, as well as any other related data, are not managed properly.
Very often companies are asked – what to include in the Bill of Materials. A very simple answer to this question is EVERYTHING. The idea of not having something in a BOM is bad and to hope that you will remember what is needed is a recipe for disaster. Very often, we’ve been asked about what is a typical data set of the Bill of Materials. Here is a quick summary of what I think is absolutely essential.
Part Number: This is a unique string that identifies every single component in the product. Not all part numbers are the same. You probably heard about OEM, Manufacturing, Suppliers and many other part numbers. Those are additional pieces of information. You might not use all of them. But, to have a unique Part Number for every single item is a must to have to keep things organized. Description: It usually gives the organization a simple way to look at the details about parts and components. Used for search, simple identification Description is not unique and must not be used to reference parts for any purposes except human interaction. Part Number is used for everything else. Part Name: Names make it easier for organizations to track components. Many systems have internal names with specificity useful to Operations, Test, and Engineering teams. A separate nomenclature might be with customers in Sales organizations. Unlike part numbers, part names aren’t necessarily unique. Consistent use of part names like connector, adapter, and cable, can help keep everyone on the same page. Unit of Measure: A very important piece of information that helps to identify how to measure the quantity of the part. Type (s): Usually absorbs the different types of information to classify part of help to identify how to manage the part. Organizations can apply multiple types to classify parts and how data about part can be processed. Revision and Phase: This is used to identify the level of maturity and specific changes. Companies are using various practices when creating new part numbers of revise existing parts. In addition to these parameters, organizations are usually including information about the manufacturer, suppliers, cost, and other pieces of data in BOMs.
The information I mentioned above is usually the same about the item (part, purchased assembly). However, another group of information is typically included in BOMs and it represents a specific part usage.
A very important element of the Bill of Materials. Effectivity is usually representing specific characteristics saying if a part (or assembly) can be used and under what conditions. There are different types of effectivity – date, configuration, serial number.
Last, but not least piece of information is related to complex products having multiple configurations. A BOM that contains information about multiple configurations usually called “configured BOM” and the BOM that represents information about a single configuration is called resolved.
A list of components represented as one level is usually the basic way to plan the BOM. However, components are connected into assemblies and those usually have sub-assemblies. This is a simple single-multi-level structure. A flattened BOM is a report that summarizes the usage across multiple levels.
OpenBOM Bill of Materials core elements are represented using the Reference-Instance model and described by the following picture. You can see references (items) and their instances combined into parent-child relationships.
OpenBOM provides a super-efficient and easy-to-use user interface to view, control, and collaborates around the Bill of Materials.
OpenBOM creates and maintain a product knowledge graph that span across multiple domains – engineering, manufacturing, maintenance and support.
OpenBOM platform is different from many other existing PDM and PLM platforms. Here are 6 key differentiators of OpenBOM platform:
OpenBOM strategy and vision is to transform manufacturing company product lifecycle and operation using data. The value proposition includes removing of pain to data management and integration, collaboration and decision support.
OpenBOM solution strategy scales from New Product Development process support and extends into Decision support and future AI solutions.
OpenBOM is multi-tenant data management platform capable to provide solution to multiple companies and support tight collaboration with product structure (unlike all legacy single tenant PLM platforms)
OpenBOM is available as a multi-tenant instance on AWS via openbom.com, but can be hosted in your company AWS account using enterprise subscription. We plan to make OpenBOM available via AWS Marketplace. OpenBOM can be hosted using other hyper scalers such as GCP or Microsoft Azure.
