Best Ways to Improve BOM Quality

BOMs are an integral part of running an asset-intensive company’s operations, using an EAM/CMMS system. These systems track up to hundreds of materials at a time for upcoming maintenance requests and replacement orders. All this information in the same database helps planners coordinate repairs and new orders more efficiently. Good quality maintenance BOMs can significantly increase the speed at which planners can plan work orders and help ensure work orders are completed without delays.

Utilizing BOMs helps increase wrench time, leading to a wide variety of benefits. Workers being able to find information sooner will decrease lead times. Without BOMs, planners would have to find vendor maintenance documents or recommended spare parts lists to find parts, and this can take the time that would be better-used planning and scheduling work.

Using good quality BOMs can lead to increased wrench time and many other benefits alongside productivity. But herein lies the issue, how do you know your BOMs are good quality? If you have doubts about the quality of your BOMs, take a look at the following ways to improve their quality. 

Target Audience Matters

To create effective BOMs, you need to consider who will be using the BOMs the most. In addition to inputting data without errors, use detailed and informative parts descriptions that allow easy identification and differentiation between parts. Be sure to keep things simple and intuitive for new users coming aboard when doing so.

Accuracy is Key

Having accurate BOMs is critical to realizing the benefits BOMs are designed for to use them effectively. Inaccurate BOMs usually are sourced from a failure to keep the information up to date in the long run. Moreover, avoid using spreadsheets and use your EAM/CMMS system. This will facilitate a coordinated effort to document data in a centralized system instead of multiple spreadsheets among different users.

Clean and Clear Visuals 

Incorporating visuals or diagrams into your BOMs can make things significantly easier for maintenance workers. Workers can associate part names and numbers with visuals through exploded parts diagrams, making it easier to plan and carry out work. Providing vendor manuals linked to BOMs is also a good idea so that workers won’t waste time looking for them independently.

Using visuals and diagrams in your materials lists can make locating and interpreting data much easier for maintenance workers. Through exploded parts diagrams, workers can connect naming conventions, numbers, and visuals to make upkeep requests faster to coordinate. Providing vendor manuals linked to BOMs is also helpful incorporation so that this information is quickly accessible.

BOMs take time, money, and expertise to create and keep up to date. If your company is going to invest a lot into creating them, you may as well do it the right way. We provide solutions and services to help you build quality BOMs and keep them up to date.

How Can NRX AssetHub Help You?

Are you looking to start building your first BOM? Or are you interested in pointers to improve the quality of your existing ones? Contact us to watch a demo and learn more about how we can help enhance your BOMs.