OpenBOM Live Workshop – What We Learned From The First Live Demo

At OpenBOM we focus on helping our customers to build products faster using accurate data. At first, you can ask what is accurate data and how to differentiate between accurate and not accurate data. Here is a simple way to think about it. Every company is run by processes and processes need data. Without data, the company is hopeless to deliver the products or services. Therefore, it is extremely important to be able to make the right data available for company team members, contractors, and suppliers at the right time. 

It is simple to say, but very hard to do. There are two main reasons for that: 

1. Data is really complex and combines many interconnected pieces of information 
2. People are enemies of setting up the right processes and using old habits of data management (eg. Excel files). 

Therefore, at OpenBOM we are on a mission to help our customers to establish modern digitally enabled data pipelines, streamlining information transfer from engineering to procurement, from suppliers to engineers and back, and from manufacturing companies to their customers. To have accurate data is a foundation of success. 

Education and Communication

Which leads me to the next topic – education and communication. At OpenBOM, we are always looking for ways to better communicate and show our value proposition to prospects. We write blogs, been on podcasts, featured in webinars, and more. However, we have decided to introduce a new way of communicating with prospects and customers. This new way is through live workshops which we call, Live Demonstration Workshops. 

The goal of these workshops is to provide an overview of OpenBOM and to have an interactive section at the end to allow you to ask questions. The interactive section at the end is set aside for users to ask any question they might have about OpenBOM and we will answer and demo it live for you. 

It’s kind of putting us on the hotseat but that’s also what makes it fun. 

Also, in case you missed this one, check out our next one on Wednesday, September 13 at 9 am EDT.

The Live Demonstration Flow

The live demonstration workshop had 3 parts. 

• An intro – What is OpenBOM
• A live demonstration 
• Q&A

The introduction had a couple of focus points. We started off by talking about the 5 goals of manufacturing companies. There are:

• Produce High-Quality Products
• Build a Great Supply Chain Network
• Create a Great Team
• Reduce Costs
• Increase Profits

We moved into how OpenBOM is a tool to support manufacturing companies to achieve these goals. We also stated that there are 5 additional pain points that modern manufacturers face.

• Companies need to organize product information 
• The decision process is critical and requires accurate information
• Need to accelerate processes for new product development 
• There is a need to mitigate supply chain and compliance risks
• Products live longer, require maintenance and re-fabrication  

These pains are what prevent manufacturers from achieving their main goals. These are the areas manufacturers have identified as parts of their operations to improve. 

The second part, a live demonstration, takes you through the product in real-time (nothing pre-recorded). The example from today’s demo was a bicycle. 

Our customer success specialist, Pedro Branco, was leading the demo. Pedro has a deep experience working with many industrial companies large and small before joining OpenbOM. 

Pedro was leading the demo and took you through how a bike manufacturer would use OpenBOM. He took you through the following:

• Create a new BOM from Scratch
• Update from Solidworks or other CAD systems 
• Create revisions 
• Create a Purchase Order (PO)
• Vendor Selection
• Receive PO and Release to Production

Q&A Session

A surprising part of the demonstration was the number of questions that our visitors asked. 

• Does OpenBOM auto-generate part numbers?
• How do we see, at a glance what the subsystem revisions are?
• I see vendors, is there a way to identify manufacturers for the purpose of vendor searching?
• Can you go over having multiple vendors for the same item and selecting preferred?
• What if your vendor uses a vendor-unique part number? Does this tool offer change management?
• Could I change the cost unit from USD to another currency unit, EUR?
• Do you have international support?
• When will OpenBOM Design be released?

During the live demonstration workshop, we answered all of these questions. To find the answers, please check out the video below. Questions start at 24:55 of the video. 

Share Requests About Future Workshops and Share With Us

These live demonstrations are for those who are looking to learn best practices of changing business processes using digital tools. In addition, we welcome you to join if you are interested in seeing how OpenBOM can solve the pains companies are facing during PLM implementation. 

Also, if there is a specific use case you want to focus on then let us know. We can offer a demonstration during our Q&A section. 

We plan to have these live demonstrations every other week. The next one we will have is on Wednesday, September 13 at 9 am EDT and you can register for this one here. 

We hope to see you there. 

Regards,

Jared Haw